Onnoghen: Industrial Court Issues Restraining Order Against CCT

Eniola Olayemi

The National Industrial Court has issued a restraining order against the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) stopping it from proceeding with the trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.

Mr Onnoghen is being prosecuted by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on six counts, for alleged false asset declaration following a petition by a group, the Anti-corruption, Research and Data-based Initiative headed by a member of the All Progressive Congress and former official the Congress for Progressive Change, of which incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, was a stalwart.

The case earlier scheduled to begin on Monday was adjourned till January 22, after Mr Onnoghen’s lawyers argued that the defendant was not duly served with the court summons.

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court (FHC) had issued a similar order Monday afternoon, following separate ex-parte applications, seeking to suspend the ongoing trial of the head of Nigeria’s third arm of government.

Although the requests made ex-parte implied that the court took its decision, without hearing from other parties, the FHC adjourned the substantive matter till January 17, after directing a service of notice to the parties to appear in court and explain why the trial should not be stopped.

In a similar ruling, Friday evening, the National Industrial Court allowed another motion, ex-parte, seeking to suspend further action by parties to the matter, pending the determination of an application challenging the CCT trial.

In a request brought by an applicant, Peter Abang, the court, headed by Sanusi Kado, made an interim order for the suspension of the trial pending the determination of the suit challenging Mr. Onnoghen’s false asset charge at the CCT.

The ruling, published on the website of the industrial court on Monday, restrained the CCT chairman, Danladi Umar; the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and the Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami from proceeding with the hearing, pending the determination of the substantive application before the court which will be heard on January 21.

The court papers seen, Monday night by PREMIUM TIMES indicate that the application included seven defendants, namely: Messrs, Malami, Umar, Idris, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, CCT, CCB and National Judicial Council.