Godwin Tsa, Abuja

After calling his 60-year-old driver as his witness, the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, yesterday, closed his defence before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), in the six-count criminal charge of non assets declaration brought against him by the Federal Government.

The development came as a surprise as Onnoghen had on Monday announced that he was calling three witnesses, including a director with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Mrs. Theresa Nwafor.

The tribunal had, sequel to that, issued a subpoena on her to appear in yesterday’s proceedings.

But, when the case was called yesterday, Chief Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), leading other defence lawyers told the tribunal that his client, Justice Onnoghen has closed his case.

He said: “My lords, today is for continuation of trial. But, my lords, after a deep review of the evidence led by the prosecution and the defence, the defence has come to conclusion and we have closed our case.

“Pursuant to paragraph 14 of the practice direction of this honourable tribunal, we apply to file our final written addresses.”

Uche asked for a period of 14 days within which to file final written address.

“May we most humbly apply for record of the proceedings from the inception of this case. This is because we will need it to be able to appropriately review the entire proceedings,” Uche submitted.

Responding, the prosecuting counsel, Aliyu Umar (SAN), urged the tribunal to use its discretion to allot time for the filing of final addresses by the parties.

However, his plea was rejected by the Chairman of the tribunal, Danladi Umar who fixed April 15 for the parties to adopt their briefs of argument.

The tribunal said it would, after the parties have adopted their final addresses, fix a date for judgement, and deliver two rulings that are pending in the matter.

During Monday’s proceedings, Onnoghen opened his defence by calling his 60- year-old driver, Lawal Busari, as his first defence witness (DW1).

The witness told the tribunal that Onnoghen obtained his assets declaration form on July 28, 2010, and submitted it to the CCB on November 4, 2010.

The prosecution has closed its case against Onnoghen after calling three witnesses

The first witness (PW-1), Mr. James Akpala, who is a senior investigative officer at the CCB had, in his testimony, told the tribunal that the charge against Onnoghen was filed before his team concluded investigation on the allegation that he falsely declared his assets. Similarly, the PW-2, Mr. Awal Yakassai, who is a retired director at the CCB, told Mr. Umar led three-man panel that contrary to what was alleged in the media, the suspended CJN owned only five houses. He said it was not true that CCB investigators linked the ownership of 55 houses to the defendant. The witness made the disclosure after he was shown copies of Justice Onnoghen’s asset declaration forms, which FG tendered in evidence before the CCT. The CJN was said to have submitted the forms marked as Exhibit 2 and 3, to the CCB in 2014 and 2016.

Answering questions under cross-examination, the PW-2, told the tribunal that he served at the CCB for 29 years before he retired in April 2018. He admitted that the CCB was yet to verify Justice Onnoghen’s assets with a view to finding out if he made false declarations. FG had insisted that it was the CCB that okayed Onnoghen’s trial based on certain infractions that were discovered in his asset declaration forms. On her part, the PW-3, Mr. Ifeoma Okagbue, a staff of Standard Chartered Bank in Abuja, told the tribunal that it was not true that the defendant possessed either $1million or £1million in any of the five bank accounts that necessitated the charge

Okagbue, who told the tribunal that she started managing Onnoghen’s bank accounts since 2015, gave a low down of both the opening and closing balance of all the accounts from January 2018 to January 2019. She said the accounts were all linked to one Bank Verification Code, BVN, adding that the bank had, upon securing an approval from the defendant, diverted funds from the accounts into various profit yielding ventures. That profits that accrued from the investments were credited back into the accounts. While two of the accounts are in Naira, the three others were Pounds Sterling, Euro and Dollar accounts. The witness told the tribunal that all the accounts were domiciliary, and were opened and managed at the branch of the bank in Wuse 2, Abuja.

On his part, Onnoghen’s only witness, a 60-year- old chief driver/ mechanic of the Supreme Court, Mr. Lawal Busari, (DW1), told the tribunal that he was there when Onnoghen submitted the completed asset declaration forms at the CCB office in Asokoro, Abuja.

Busari, who said he joined the judiciary in February 1999, said the forms which were issued to both himself and Onnoghen on July 28, 2010, were filled and returned back to the CCB sometimes in November same year.

Mr. Busari told the tribunal that Onnoghen submitted the asset declaration form before he was appointed the CJN.

Meantime, one of the pending rulings is challenging jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain the charge.