#OccupyNigeria, the group which
organised a massive anti-fuel subsidy protests under ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse the suspension of
Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN).
On Friday, Buhari suspended
Onnoghen, baking his action with an order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal
(CCT). He swore in Ibrahim Muhammad in his place.
In an open letter, the group also
asked the president to give attention to backlog of orders that his
administration has not complied with.
The group said the travails of
Onnoghen “could be described as the climax of these discernible series of
inconsistencies in applications of the powers of the president, which you
occupy.”
It wondered why Babachir Lawal,
sacked secretary of the government of the federation (SGF), has not been
prosecuted.
“It has become of grave concern
to us, and to many citizens of our great country that we represent, the
consistent pattern of treating provisions of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria
with utter neglect in performing sometimes noble intentioned functions of your
office,” the letter read.
“We have observed a number of
seeming inconsistencies in the applications of the weight of the law as
domiciled in your office, feeding the now common narrative that Nigerians have
been divided into the twin classes of scapegoats and sacred cows, depending on
whether such are in the good or bad books of the government when they commit
crimes or found to have committed crimes.
“If the fight against corruption
remains an ‘existential Policy which must be given adequate attention and
commitment by all the three arms of government’, as per your address to the nation on the purported suspension of the CJN, why haven’t the likes
of Babachir Lawal not been charged for corruption long after being so indicted?
“If the CJN’s moral authority
were to be truly ‘so wounded’ as to lead to calls for his resignation, how come
the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal hasn’t been held to the same
standards to save the judicial ARM of further disrepute.
“While you raised suspicion over
the ‘unholy alacrity between the time of filing, hearing and delivery of
judgment’, in favour of the CJN, neutral observers cannot help noticing a
similar ‘unholy alacrity’ between the date of submission of petition against
the CJN and the filing unheard of in other cases against close associates of
yours.
“We share your belief that
‘Nigeria is a constitutional democracy and no one must be, or be seen to be,
above the law’, but the disregard for due processes while interfering with the
activities of an independent arm of government gives the lie to this
statement.”
It also asked the president to
push for the amendment of necessary laws to ensure fair trial.
The letter was signed by Idris
Usman, convener; Itari Tumer, secretary; and Jacob Okpanchi, spokesman.
Ex-heads of state and Presidents
Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan and
Goodluck Jonathan, were also sent copies.
Who are these ones? Must they also talk just for us to remember they used to exit?
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