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Onnoghen: Appeal Court Withholds Judgment on Four Appeals
Justice Walter Onnoghen has five pending appeals before the Court of Appeal in Abuja, but none of them was decided before he was convicted and removed from office by the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Thursday, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
Onnoghen filed the sixth appeal on Thursday to challenge his conviction by the CCT.
The appeals were filed within the three months the historic trial of the ex-CJN lasted.
One of the five pre-judgment appeals Onnoghen filed on March 29 to challenge the CCT’s decision to dismiss his no-case submission has not been heard as the defence and prosecution have yet to exchange briefs on it.
While four out of the six pending appeals were heard on February 27, the Court of Appeal continues to withhold its judgments on them about seven weeks after the verdicts were reserved.
Speaking with our correspondent on Friday, one of the lawyers in Onnoghen’s legal team, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), confirmed that with the one filed on Thursday to challenge the conviction, there were six appeals relating to the trial at the Court of Appeal.
He said, “Before the judgment on Thursday, we had five appeals. But with the one filed yesterday (Thursday), we now have six appeals.
“Out of the six appeals, four have been heard, but judgments have not been delivered despite having been heard many weeks ago.”
Asked on Friday if the defence team had received the date for the judgments, Uche said, “no”.
Although the constitution gives a court a period not more than three months to deliver its judgment or ruling after the hearing of any application or a suit, Onnoghen’s legal team and aides have been expressing concerns about the delayed judgments of the Court of Appeal.
Onnoghen’s lead defence counsel in his trial at CCT, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), had in The PUNCH’s earlier report expressed disappointment with the development when responding to our correspondent’s enquiry.
He said, “We are highly disappointed that the Court of Appeal has not delivered its judgments on the appeals by the CJN despite the far-reaching constitutional implications of the appeals.
“This is a case that affects the judiciary, but things have slowed down at the Court of Appeal.”
But the prosecuting counsel, Mr Aliyu Umar (SAN), who led the Federal Government’s team to oppose the appeals at the higher court, had also in The PUNCH’s report dismissed the concerns expressed by the defence in an interview with our correspondent.
“The Court of Appeal has three months within which to give judgments, and they are still within their right, as long as they don’t exceed three months,” Umar said.
One of Onnoghen’s four appeals already heard by the Court of Appeal challenged the jurisdiction of the CCT to hear the non-declaration of assets charges instituted against him before the CCT.
Another appeal challenged the February 23 ex parte order which President Muhammadu Buhari relied on to suspend him as the CJN and to appoint Justice Tanko Muhammad as the acting CJN on February 25.
The third appeal challenged the CCT’s refusal to be bound by the orders made by the Federal High Court and the National Industrial Court directing the tribunal to halt the CJN’s trial.
The fourth one asked the court to set aside the arrest warrant issued against him by the CCT on February 13.
On February 27, a three-man bench of the court led by Justice Steven Adah finally heard the four appeals and reserved judgments, after the cases had been previously adjourned on three occasions.
Justice Adah, who led Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson and Justice Peter Ige on the panel, said the date for the judgments would be communicated to the parties when the judgments are ready.
But seven weeks after no date for the judgment has been communicated.
The remaining two appeals yet to be heard are the ones challenging the March 28 ruling of the CCT, on Onnoghen’s no-case submission, and another challenging the judgment of the tribunal which convicted him on Thursday.
The three-man tribunal led by Danladi Umar after convicting Onnoghen, ordered his removal as the CJN and the Chairman of both the National Judicial and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.
The tribunal banned him from holding any public officer for a period of 10 years.
The tribunal also ordered the forfeiture of the money in the five bank accounts which the defendant failed to declare as part of his assets in breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
The Punch
The Senate has granted approval to the ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2b) loan request of President Bola Tinubu after a voice vote in favor of the request.
The Senate presided by Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, approved the loan after the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts chaired by Senator Wammako Magatarkada (APC, Sokoto North) presented the report of the committee.
The request which was submitted by the President on Tuesday is part of a fresh external borrowing plan to partially finance the N9.7 trillion budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year.
Tinubu had on Tuesday written to the National Assembly, seeking approval of a fresh N1.767 trillion, the equivalent of $2.209 billion as a new external borrowing plan in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
The fresh loan is expected to stretch the amount spent on debt servicing by the Federal Government. The Central Bank of Nigeria recently said that it cost the Federal Government $3.58 billion to service foreign debt in the first nine months of 2024.
The CBN report on international payment statistics showed that the amount represents a 39.77 per cent increase from the $2.56bn spent during the same period in 2023.
According to the report, while the highest monthly debt servicing payment in 2024 occurred in May, amounting to $854.37m, the highest monthly expenditure in 2023 was $641.70m, recorded in July.
The trend in foreign debt servicing by the CBN highlights the rising cost of debt obligations by Nigeria.
Further breakdown of international debt figures showed that in January 2024, debt servicing costs surged by 398.89 per cent, rising to $560.52m from $112.35m in January 2023. February, however, saw a slight decline of 1.84 per cent, with payments reducing from $288.54m in 2023 to $283.22m in 2024.
March recorded a 31.04 per cent drop in payments, falling to $276.17m from $400.47m in the same period last year. April saw a significant rise of 131.77 per cent, with $215.20m paid in 2024 compared to $92.85m in 2023.
The highest debt servicing payment occurred in May 2024, when $854.37m was spent, reflecting a 286.52 per cent increase compared to $221.05m in May 2023. June, on the other hand, saw a 6.51 per cent decline, with $50.82m paid in 2024, down from $54.36m in 2023.
July 2024 recorded a 15.48 per cent reduction, with payments dropping to $542.50m from $641.70m in July 2023. In August, there was another decline of 9.69 per cent, as $279.95m was paid compared to $309.96m in 2023. However, September 2024 saw a 17.49 per cent increase, with payments rising to $515.81m from $439.06m in the same month last year.
Given rising exchange rates, the data raises concerns about the growing pressure of Nigeria’s foreign debt obligations.
Channels TV
Self acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, has been arrested by law enforcement in Finland.
The BBC reports that Ekpa was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.
Ekpa was said to have committed the crime in 2021 in Lahti municipality.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.
A citizen of Finland and Nigeria, Ekpa has described himself as leader of the separatist IPOB group since Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration.
Finnish police say Ekpa’s activities and social media rhetoric may have fanned the flames of violence in the south-east of Nigeria.
“He carries out these activities from his social media channels, for example,” said Otto Hiltunen, detective chief inspector of the NBI.
In February 2023, Ekpa was arrested by police at his residence in Lahti but was released after hours of questioning.
Using his social media channels, Ekpa had directed Igbos not to participate in Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
In September 2021, the Biafra agitator and secessionist denounced Nigeria and vowed to return the medal he won for the country at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships.
The Court of Appeal has sacked Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo as the National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
In a ruling that upheld the earlier judgment of the National Industrial Court, the appellate court sacked MC Oluomo and reaffirmed Tajudeen Baruwa as the legitimate leader of the union.
Baruwa had assumed office after a properly conducted election held at the union’s headquarters in Abuja.
The three-member panel of the Appeal Court dismissed the appeal filed by MC Oluomo’s faction, declaring it devoid of merit.
In addition, the court imposed a fine of N100,000 on the appellants, further solidifying Baruwa’s leadership position.
Reports quoting court documents said to have been released on Friday detailed the ruling, which effectively countered any attempts to displace Baruwa from his role as the NURTW president.
The judgment read: “This is an appeal against the judgment/decision of the National Industrial Court Sitting in Abuja, in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/263/2023, delivered on the 11th March, 2024, by Justice O. O. Oyewumi.
“Upon reading the Record of Appeal compiled and transmitted before this court, together with the respective briefs of argument, and after hearing the counsels for the appellants and respondents, it is hereby ordered that:
“This Appeal is devoid of merit, and the same is hereby dismissed.”
The ruling reinforces the legitimacy of Baruwa’s presidency, concluding the legal dispute over the union’s leadership.
Meanwhile, MC Oluomo’s son Idowu Akinsanya (King West) had bragged about his feat of emerging the NURTW president, saying: “We are now in charge of Nigeria, not only Lagos,” a comment that attracted public opprobrium.
MC Oluomo, a diehard supporter of President Bola Tinubu and a prominent figure in Lagos politics, was the sole candidate in the election, which took place at the union’s zonal secretariat in Osogbo. His perceived victory was deemed to carry significant implications for the future of the NURTW and the political landscape of Nigeria.
