By Our reporter| Nigeria’s immediate past chief justice, Walter Onnoghen on Friday for the first time opened up why President Muhammadu Buhari removed him from office.
The former CJN was removed from office by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, after he was accused of fraud by government in the build up to the 2019 presidential election.
But on Friday at the public presentation of a book titled: “Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009: Practice, procedure, forms and precedents,” authored by Ogwu James Onoja (SAN), Onnoghen revealed he was removed from office based on rumour that he held meeting with the presidential candidate of the opposition PDP, Atiku Abubakar in Dubai ahead the 2019 general election.
Onnoghen who said he was disappointed that Buhari failed to verify the rumour before instigating the CCT to remove him from office, also explained that although the rumour was brought to his attention before his removal, he chose not to address it because he never met with Atiku in Dubai and has never had a personal encounter with the Adamawa born politician all his life.
The disgraced former CJN while faulting the process at the CCT, lamented that his trial was put in motion even when he had not been invited or accused of any wrongdoing.
According to him, in the course of the trial, and when parties had joined issues, an ex-parte application was suddenly brought in, and “what followed was my illegal and unlawful suspension as the CJN.”
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