Court adjourns suits seeking to halt Onnoghen’s CCT case

A federal high court sitting in Abuja has adjourned two suits seeking to stop the continuation of the trial of Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria.

Evelyn Maha , the presiding judge, adjourned the cases till January 28 after Lawal Rabana, counsel representing the respondents, told the court on Thursday that his client had not been served.

The plaintiffs, Incorporated ‎Trustees of the Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative, and the Incorporated Trustees of International Association of Students, had on January 14, in two separate applications, obtained interim orders for the maintenance of status quo pending the determination of the substantive suits fixed for hearing on Thursday.

The respondents include Danladi Umar, CCT chairman; Abubakar Malami, minister of justice; Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police; the National Judicial Council (NJC), headed by Onnoghen and Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Rabana said all the respondents except Saraki had been served with the processes, praying the court for an adjournment to ensure that Saraki was served.

The court ordered a fresh service of the court summons to be served on the respondents and asked that the date of service be included in the proof of service before the next hearing.

Garba Tetengi, who announced appearance for the NJC, confirmed that he had been served the court process.

The development may cause Onnoghen’s Thursday trial to be suspended.

Onnoghen has been accused of false assets declaration, with a six-count charge filed against him at the CCT.

The CJN was meant to be arraigned on Monday at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) but he was absent.

Wole Olanipekun, his counsel, challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the matter. He said his client had not been served.

The case was adjourned till January 22.

However, the CCB formally served court summons on Onnoghen on Wednesday and hours after news broke that the federal government had asked the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to freeze five bank accounts belonging to the CJN.