Court stops arraignment and arrest of CJN Onnoghen

A federal high court in Abuja has stopped the plan to arraign Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), TOPNAIJA.NG can confirm.

The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) had filed six counts of non-declaration of assets against the CJN. Onnoghen was summoned to the tribunal but he was absent when the CCT commenced sitting on Monday.

Ruling on two separate ex parte applications, N.E Maha, a judge, ordered parties to maintain status quo till January 17.

He ruled that the defendants should be served with all the papers filed and that they should appear in court at the next hearing.

The CCT had adjourned the trial till January 22. Danladi Umar, chairman of the tribunal, adjourned the matter after Wole Olanipekun, counsel to Onnoghen, argued that his client was not properly served.

In the same vein, the national industrial court in Abuja has given an order restraining Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police (IGP), from arresting Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), over charges filed against him by the federal government.

The court gave the judgement on Monday in a suit filed by Peter Abang, a claimant.

The suit marked NICN/ABJ/07/2019, has Danladi Umar, Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) chairman, National Judicial Commission (NJC), Federal Judicial Service Commission and the senate president as defendants.

The court also granted Abang’s prayer seeking to restrain Umar from going ahead to hear the case against the CJN pending the determination of the motion on notice.

“In view of the imminent danger of having res in this suit being destroyed before the hearing of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction and the affidavit evidence before the court, I am satisfied that the applicant in this case has made out a case for the court’s intervention to prevent and preserve the res from dissipation,” the court held.

“In view of the importance of the constitutional issues involved in this matter regarding the threat to the position of the number one judicial officer of the country.”

The court also gave a temporal injunction ordering the defendants not to force Onnoghen from vacating his office.

The development comes hours after a federal high court in Abuja stopped the plan to arraign Onnoghen at the tribunal.

The CJN was supposed be arraigned at the tribunal on Monday.