Did You Know That It Was Onnoghen That Affirmed The Death Sentence Passed On Rev King - Here Are 15 Indisputable Facts About Him

After a long legal battle, the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria finally submitted his resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, according to TheCable report.

While the presidency is yet to issue any official statement about Onnoghen’s resignation, here are the 15 things you need to know about Justice Walter Onnoghen

1) His full name is Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen

2) He was born December 22, 1950

3) He had been a judge in Cross River State and a justice of the Court of Appeal befoe joining the apex court.

4) He was born at Okurike Town, Biase Local Government Area of Cross Rivers State, South-South, Nigeria.

5) He had his primary school education at the Presbyterian Primary School, Okurike Town between 1959 and 1965.

5) He attended, wrote and passed his West African Examination Council (WAEC) O-Level certificate from Odorgonno Senior High School between 1967 and 1972,and his WAEC (A-Levels) at Accra Academy between 1972 and 1974.

6) Onnoghen studied law at the University of Ghana at Legon, Ghana in 1977 before returning to the Nigerian Law School in Lagos in 1978

7) Before his appointment as the Chief Justice of the Federation, he worked with the Ministry of Justice, Ikeja, Lagos, Ogun State between 1978-1979, as the Pupil State Counsel. When he left Ministry of Justice, he went to partner in the Law firm of Effiom Ekong & Company, Calabar between 1979 – 1988.

8) He once had his own law chamber and was the Principal Partner/Head of Chamber of Walter Onnoghen & Associates, Calabar from the period of 1988 – 1989.

9) Between 1989 – 1998, he was a High Court Judge of Cross Rivers State Judiciary. During his time as the High Court Judge of Cross Rivers State Judiciary he served as chairman of several panels.

10) In February 2016, Justice Onnoghen led a seven-man panel of Justices of the apex court who reviewed and upheld the death sentence of Chukwuemeka Ezeugo (aka Rev. King) of the Christian Praying Assembly.

Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, simply known by his sobriquet Reverend King, is a Christian preacher from Anambra State, South-east Nigeria. In 2006, he rose to nationwide recognition following the murder of a church member, Ann Uzoh.

11) Did you also know Onnoghen had a dissenting judgment that indeed annulled the 2007 presidential election? His position was, however, a minority judgment.

In 2007, Justice Onnoghen played a huge role in 2007 election which saw the Late Umaru Yar’adua as President of the federal republic of Nigeria.

12) He occupied the office of CJN controversially after being nominated by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, he was confirmed by the Senate on 1 March 2017, and sworn in on 7 March 2017.

13) Onnoghen’s trials started when a petition was filed by the civil rights group at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) alleging that he owns ” sundry accounts primarily funded through cash deposits made by himself up to as recently as 10 August 2016, which appear to have been run in a manner inconsistent with financial transparency and the code of conduct for public officials.”

Credit: Premium Times

14) He is possibly on record that he has the highest number of lawyers that represented an individual in court.

Source: Punch

Sahara Reporters in its January 13, 2019 publication said “At least 150 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) signalled interest to appear before the Justice Danladi Yakubu-led Code of Conduct Tribunal on Monday in defence of Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice Of Nigeria (CJN), in connection with allegations slammed against him.”

15) And on April 5, 2019, news broke out that the suspended CJN submitted his resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on April 4 as reported by InfomediaNG