The Court of Appeal in Abuja has faulted the ex-parte order issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on which President Buhari acted in suspending former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.
A three-man panel of the court, led by Justice Stephen Adah, held that, since Onnoghen was not yet arraigned as at January 23, 2019 when the ex-parte order was made, that it was wrong for the prosecutors to have gone behind him to obtain an order for his removal from office.
Despite its observation, the court declined to set aside the order, noting that the ex-parte order was no longer of any use since the substantive trial has been concluded.
“We have reviewed the arguments of counsel in this appeal. The order was a product of an ex-parte motion,” the court ruled.
“The record before us show that the appellant had not been arraigned before the order was made.” The court noted that the ex-parte order was given in ‘secret.’
The judges, however, added that since the case has already ended, the request regarding the ex-parte motion is already spent and they would not go into the details of what its effects are.
The appeal court had reserved judgment in the appeal on February 27 for a date to be communicated to parties.
It advised parties in the case to pursue the appeal in relation to the judgment in the substantive trial.
The court made the pronouncements on Friday in its judgments in four interlocutory appeals by Onnoghen, against some decisions of the CCT, while his trial lasted before the tribunal.
The Appeal Court equally faulted the CCT for refusing to be bound by the orders made by four High Courts, restraining it from proceeding with Onnoghen’s trial.
It said, rather than closing its eyes to valid and subsisting court orders made against it, the option opened to the CCT when confronted with the orders, was to appeal them.
The court, while noting that events have overtaken most of the reliefs sought in the appeals, dismissed them.
