Justice Onnoghen finally resigns in response to NJC recommendation and EFCC report

EMBATTLED chief judge of Nigeria Justice Walter Onnoghen has finally tendered his resignation to President Muhammadu Buhari ending months of intrigue that resulted in him being suspended and sparked a litany of legal actions.

In January this year, President Buhari suspended Justice Onnoghen and replaced him with Justice Tanko Mohammed, who was sworn-in as the acting chief judge of Nigeria (CJN). Over recent months, Justice Onnoghen has been involved in intense political jockeying with the government that involved him being charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) with false asset declaration.

This week, things took a turn for the worse when President Buhari was advised by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to retire Justice Onnoghen based on findings by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Apart from allegations that he failed to declare his assets as prescribed by the law, in the six-count charge, Justice Onnoghen is also accused of operating five foreign bank accounts, contrary to section 15(2) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

According to the EFCC, Justice Onnoghen was in possession of funds which are not attributable to his known, provable and legitimate source of income. Apart from accusing him of opening of a dollar account at Standard Chartered Bank with $30,000 the EFCC accused Justice Onnoghen of being unable to account for curious deposits in his accounts, which had accumulated to $1,716,000.

In what appeared to be the final straw, Justice Onnoghen decided to quit after the NJC made its recommendation. According to one of the senior lawyers in his defence team, Justice Onnoghen has sent his resignation letter to President Buhari.

He said: “I have just spoken with him. He confirmed to me that he resigned voluntarily yesterday."

Apparently, the resignation letter was handed to the chief of staff to the president, Mallam Abba Kyari in the company of the attorney-general and justice minister Abubakar Malami, at about 2.20 pm yesterday by some Supreme Court judges. They were said to have arrived at the presidential villa a few minutes after President Buhari had left Abuja for Jordan to participate in the World Economic Forum yesterday.