The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has ordered further proceedings in the trial of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen be conducted on a day-to-day basis.
Tribunal Chairman, Danladi Umar, in a bench ruling on Monday also elected to reserve, till the conclusion of the trial, decisions on applications by Onnghen, which challenged the tribunal’s jurisdiction and another asking Umar recuse himself from the case.
Umar said Section 296(2) &(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) support the position he took.
The CCT Chairman’s decision was unexpected by many, because shortly before delivering his bench ruling, he had sought the views of lawyers on both sides on how the tribunal should proceed in view of the provision Section 296(2) of the ACJA vis a vis the applications just argued.
Umar had sought the lawyers’ views after the tribunal took arguments from both sides in relation to the two applications by Onnoghen.
In his contribution, lead prosecution lawyer, Aliyu Umar (SAN) said, by the provision of Section 296(2), the tribunal could reserve its ruling in the application that challenged its jurisdiction.
He said the tribunal cannot afford to proceed without ruling on the other application, querying the tribunal Chairman’s integrity and demanding that he excuse himself from further proceedings on grounds of likely bias.
