There was mild drama at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) sitting in Abuja on Monday when a prepared written script was found on one Lawal Olanrewaju Busari, a witness of Walter Onnoghen, the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Onnoghen is standing trial over allegations of fraudulent declaration of assets.
When the matter resumed on Monday, Onnoghen opened his defence as one of his witnesses, Lawal Olanrewaju Busari, his official driver, took the oath and entered the witness box.
During the cross-examination, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), the defence counsel, asked a series of questions on his relationship with Onnoghen and how he was sent to purchase and receive the forms on behalf of the defendant.
However, when Aliyu Umar, the prosecution counsel, asked him to hand over the paper in his hand to Danladi Umar, the CCT Chairman, it was discovered that the paper contained written answers to questions of the defence counsel — known in Nigerian parlance as 'expo'.
The court, therefore, admitted the script found on the witness as an exhibit.
Earlier, the court admitted the receipt for the purchase of the asset declaration form of the former CJN as evidence D2 and threw out the receipt of the acknowledgement of the declaration form, stating that it was not relevant.
Umar faulted the document tendered by the defence, saying it was not relevant to the case.
Awomolo also asked the tribunal to serve one Mrs. Theresa Nwafor, the Edo State Director of Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), a subpoena (witness summon), to appear and testify before the tribunal. The prayer was granted as the witness was asked to appear before the CCT on the adjourned date
The matter has been adjourned till Wednesday, April 3, 2019.
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