The Presidency has said that it did not enter into any deal with the embattled Justice Walter Onnoghen before he decided to resign his appointment as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
Onnoghen, who is undergoing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for failing to declare his assets, resigned his appointment on Thursday.
There are speculations that he resigned after reaching a deal with the Presidency through the intervention of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, but a Presidency official said there was no such deal.
“There is no such thing that the Vice President brokered any deal that made the CJN to resign. It is not true,” he said.
He also insisted that there was no deal with Onnoghen, with or without Osinbajo.
The source said it was clear to all from the beginning that the allegations levelled against the former CJN were weighty.
He said Onnoghen apparently waited for the verdict of the National Judicial Council on the petitions against him before he took the decision to quit.
“There is absolutely no deal at all. What I know is that the CJN waited for NJC before he chose to resign. The allegations against him were clearly weighty,” he said.
Meanwhile, the prosecution and defence teams involved in the trial of Onnoghen at the CCT remain undeterred in the pursuit of the case despite the news of the embattled top judicial officer’s resignation which broke on Friday.
The news filtered in on Friday that Onnoghen, who had been on suspension since January 23, 2019, had, on Thursday, submitted his letter of resignation to President Muhammadu Buhari, barely 24 hours after the NJC, reportedly recommended him for compulsory retirement.
Although the news of his “resignation” has not been confirmed through any official channel, two of his lawyers, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), and Rafiu Lawal-Rabana (SAN), had, on Friday, confirmed to one of our correspondents that the suspended CJN had resigned.
The news of Onnoghen’s resignation has fuelled speculations that he had entered into a deal brokered in the NJC’s recommendations for him to quit office and have the false and non-declaration of assets charges preferred against him withdrawn.
Already, both the defence and the prosecution teams were still trying to meet the deadlines for the filing of their final written addresses ahead of the April 15 proceedings where the two sides would canvass final arguments before a date for judgment would be picked.
Although Awomolo, who leads Onnoghen’s defence team at the CCT, could not be reached on Saturday for his comment on the speculated deal between his client and the Federal Government, it was learnt that the team was, as of Saturday, still trying to meet the Monday deadline given by the CCT for the filing of their final address.
The tribunal chairman, Danladi Umar, had, at the April 3 proceedings, given the defence up till Monday, April 8, to file and serve its final address on the prosecution.
The prosecution was given up till Thursday, April 11, to respond.
Any further reply on points of law by the defence to the response of the prosecution must be filed by April 15, the tribunal chairman said.
“We are working on our address and we will file it on Monday. We are not aware of any deal for the withdrawal of charges; so, we are not going to let that hold us down,” a senior lawyer in the defence team, who sought not to be named because he did not get authorisation to speak on the matter, said on Saturday.
But the leader of the prosecuting team, Aliyu Umar (SAN), told one of our correspondents on Saturday that he was not aware of any deal for the withdrawal of the charges.
He said the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), who issued him the fiat to prosecute the case on behalf of the Code of Conduct Bureau, had also not told him anything.
He said the reported resignation of Onnoghen had also not been confirmed to him.
He said, “First of all, I am prosecuting this matter on behalf of the Code of Conduct Bureau, which means I’m under the control of the Attorney General of the Federation and I was even given a fiat by the Attorney General for the purpose of the prosecution.
“Up till this time (Saturday), nobody has confirmed to me that his Lordship has resigned. I only read it in the news. Then, concerning what you just told me about a deal, I don’t know anything about it.
“But you know under the Nigerian system, there is what we call plea bargain. But honestly, up till this time, the Attorney General has not told me anything. If that is the situation, I think the Attorney General will appear personally on April 15 when we are going back for our final addresses. But honestly I really don’t know; nobody has contacted me.”