Ebun Francis|
The suspended Chief Justice Of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, on Monday opened his defence at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The CCT, in a ruling last week read by its chairman, Danladi Umar, dismissed a no-case submission by Mr Onnoghen.
The tribunal said the allegations against him are weighty and warrant that he enters his defence.
The embattled CJN opened his defense by calling his driver, Mr. Lawal Busari, as his first defence.
Busari, who was led by Onnoghen’s Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), told the court how he drove the suspended CJN to the office of the Code of Conduct Bureau, on July 28, 2010, to obtain the assets declaration form.
According to him, he paid the sum of N200 for Onnoghen’s assets declaration on November 3, 2010.
When Awomolo sought to tender the receipt as an exhibit, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Aliyu Umar (SAN), objected to the admissibility of the document.
Umar said, the “Revenue Number” did not appear on the receipt, “the authenticity of the receipt is in doubt”.
Umar further said that Busari, not being the maker of the document, was not the right person to tender it.
The 60-year-old witness, who described himself as the Chief Driver/Mechanic at the Supreme Court, said that while with Onnoghen at the CCB office on July 28, 2010, the suspended CJN also asked him to obtain his own assets declaration form.
He said he also obtained his form.
He said, “On getting there (CCB office), he (Onnoghen), collected assets declaration form.
“After he was given the form, he said, ‘Alhaji are you not going to collect your own?’ He said, ‘collect it’.
“We got back to the office, I filled my own.
“On November 3, 2010, My lordship gave me N200 to pay into the treasury account for the assets declaration form.
“I collected the receipt from the cashier and I gave the receipt back to my lord.
“On November 4, 2010, I did mine too by paying the sum of N200 to the cashier.”
The objection of the prosecution was overruled as by the CCT as the receipt was admitted as an exhibit.
Leave a Reply