Suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has
reportedly tendered his resignation from office with immediate effect following
allegations of misconduct and corruption brought against him by the executive
arm of government.
The Cable reports that Onnoghen submitted his resignation
letter to President Buhari on Thursday April 4th, a day after the National
Judicial Council (NJC) completed its investigation into the allegations against
the former CJN and forwarded the findings to the President.
Though the content of the report has not been made public,
reports say the NJC recommended that Onnoghen should be compulsorily retired
from service. He would have been due for retirement by 2020.
Onnoghen was accused of a series of offences ranging from
false assets declaration − he allegedly did not declare several bank accounts
he owns and which contain huge sums of money in local and foreign currency −,
to bribery and misconduct.
Among several other allegations, the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) claimed that several senior lawyers paid huge sums of
monies as bribes into Onnoghen’s accounts. The commission also said that one
senior lawyer, Joe Agi, who had also been accused of corruption in the past,
gave Onnoghen a car gift worth millions of naira.
However, the ex-CJN, in his defence said the monies were
gifts from the lawyers given to him many years ago when his daughter was
getting married.
Onnoghen’s resignation, if accepted by President Buhari,
would mean that the President would no longer take the cumbersome route of
seeking the approval of the Senate before dismissing him. However, the
resignation also means that the former CJN could still be entitled to all his
severance package as a former head of the nation’s judiciary.
Meanwhile, the case of false assets declaration is currently
ongoing at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Both the prosecution and the defence
teams in the case have closed their cases, and the tribunal had adjourned to
enable both teams to prepare their final addresses before judgement would be
delivered.
The case has been adjourned to April 15 for judgement.
