September 19, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government and former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Samuel Walter Onnoghen, have reached an agreement to settle out of court.
This was disclosed on Thursday, at the resumed hearing of the appeal filed before the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal by the former CJN challenging his removal from office.
While former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 removed Onnoghen as CJN, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) later in that year found him guilty of false declaration of assets and was made to forfeit the undeclared assets to the Federal Government.
In his appeal before the appellate court, the former CJN is seeking to set aside the judgement of the CCT that removed him from office and ordered the forfeiture of his five bank accounts.
However, at Thursday’s proceedings, lead counsel to the former CJN, Dr. Ogwu James Onoja, informed a 3-man panel of Justices of the Appeal Court that the two parties are already having discussions on a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
Onoja informed the court that the parties had an engagement up until Wednesday, September 18, and expressed optimism that the discussion would bear fruitful results.
The senior lawyer subsequently appealed to the appellate court for a one-month adjournment for final settlement of the matter.
On his part, the Federal Government’s lawyer, Tijani Gazali, corroborated the submission of Onoja and requested that the matter be shifted forward for a possible amicable settlement.
“My Lords, I wish to humbly confirm the information. It is our position to settle the matter out of court,” he said.
In a brief remark, Justice J. O. Oyewole, who presided over Thursday’s proceedings, directed them to file terms of settlement for adoption when eventually agreed upon.
Justice Oyewole held that the terms of settlement must be documented and filed before the adjourned date for the court to adopt as its judgement in the matter.
He subsequently fixed November 4 as the return date for the two parties.
