In a shocking turn of events, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) told the Court of Appeal on Tuesday that it no longer possesses the case file for the trial of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Samuel Walter Nkanu Onnoghen, five years after the trial’s conclusion.
Onnoghen was convicted in 2019 by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for falsely declaring his assets and subsequently removed from office.
Additionally, he was ordered to surrender the undeclared assets to the Federal Government.
However, at the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, the representative of the federal government, Mr. Tijani Gazali (SAN), told the appellate court that not a single paper in respect of the trial and conviction of the ex-CJN was with the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Gazali notified the three-member panel of Justices scheduled to hear Onnoghen’s appeal that the former CJN’s trial had been outsourced to a private legal practitioner, Mr. Aliyu Umar (SAN), based in Kano.
He further revealed that the said senior advocate, who had handled the prosecution from start to finish, had passed away four years prior, leaving a void in the case’s proceedings.
The federal government’s lawyer requested an adjournment from the Court, seeking time to obtain essential documents from the chambers of the late private lawyer Umar, in order to adequately respond to Onnoghen’s appeal.
He clarified that the private lawyer now had custody of nearly all the pertinent files and processes served on the AGF in 2019.
In addition, Gazali stated that the new AGF was investigating the issue from a different angle in an effort to find an amicable resolution to the disputed issues.
Counsel for the former CJN, Mr. Chris Uche (SAN), countered that certain documents had indeed been served on the AGF’s office and duly acknowledged, contradicting the government’s claim.
The Court granted Uche’s successful application for an expedited hearing without the FG’s objection.
Justice C. I. Jombo Ofo, who presided over the matter, granted an accelerated hearing and later fixed September 19 for the appeal hearing.
Onnoghen, who was present in court to observe the proceedings, is seeking relief from the Court of Appeal to overturn the CCT’s judgment that resulted in his removal from office and the confiscation of his five bank accounts.
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