Members of the House of
Representatives elected on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, platform, have
vowed to stand together to fight anti-democratic forces desperate to subvert
Nigeria’s constitution.
This was contained in a statement
signed by the Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuma Onyema, and issued to reporters
on Saturday.
The PDP Caucus condemned the
forceful suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria ,CJN, Justice Walter
Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari
The statement read, ”It is no
surprise that within a short while, President Muhammadu Buhari’s unprecedented
unilateral replacement of Justice Walter Onnoghen with Justice Tanko Mohammed
has reverberated so loudly across the world; so has news of how Onnoghen’s
residence was unjustifiably blanketed by forces of coercion during the weekend.
“We note too, that the United
Kingdom, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) and the
United States have joined their voices with that of credible and progressive
Nigerian democrats, legal professionals and civil society in expressing very
deep concerns over the constitutionality or lack thereof, of the Presidency’s
suspension of the chief officer of the judicial arm.
“With less than 20 days to the
presidential and National Assembly election and with few hours to the
constitution of election tribunal judges done on Saturday, the APC/Buhari
administration has unequivocally shown its determination to use sleight of hand
methods in forcing an election win by all undemocratic means possible.
“As many have rightly noted, the
hurried timing of the action, so close to the next election suggests a hidden
and perverse agenda by a government that lives in an echo chamber of
self-adulation, promising change and transparency while perilously endangering
democracy and short-circuiting due process.
Without citing any explicit
constitutional authority and hiding behind ‘an order from the Code of Conduct
Tribunal,’ President Buhari flagrantly violated the provisions of Section 292
(2) of the 1999 Constitution that clearly lays out how the Chief Justice of
Nigeria can be removed from office Unequivocally, Sections 153, 158, and Parts
1 and 2 of the 3rd Schedule to the Constitution provide that a Judicial Officer
cannot be so arbitrarily removed from Office until he has first been tried by
the National Judicial Council (NJC) while Section 292 (2) makes it clear that
the President can only remove the CJN from Office while acting on such decision
reached by two-thirds majority of the Senate.
“Without doubt, theirs has been a
government of lies, lies, propaganda and then more lies and every conscious
Nigerian knows that the entirely contrived and hurried circumstances was
orchestrated based on the so-called petition dated January 7 by President
Buhari’s erstwhile aide, an APC man while another APC sympathizer is neck deep
in the persecution case.
“Everyone in Nigeria knows how
Justice Onnoghen’s substantive elevation to the CJN position was unduly delayed
by the Buhari government in 2016 until reason prevailed and Osinbajo, as Acting
President did the needful in 2017.
“When Buhari’s former aide’s
January 7 petition came to light, they initially lied that the Presidency knew
nothing about it but the exceedingly lightning speed put behind it all by the
Buhari presidency speaks volumes.
“Even a Thursday Court of Appeal
ruling, ordering the CCT to stay action, pending the determination of
Onnoghen’s application that the CCT had no power to try him, was waved aside
for President Buhari’s unprecedented decision of Friday, January 25!
“The military invasion of Daily
Trust newspaper, disregard of court orders and non-release of the leader of the
Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim el-Zakzaky and his wife, Zinat since
December 2015, flagrant disobedience of court orders for the release of former
NSA, Sambo Dasuki on bail and this crude, anti-democratic arbitrariness on CJN
Onnoghen only attest to fears that we are back in the era of President Buhari’s
dark-goggled late ally, with loathsome memories of Buhari’s Decree 4
dictatorship era.
“The PDP Caucus of the House of
Representatives hereby assures millions of law-abiding, democracy-loving
Nigerians who have respect for process that we shall stand together against
anti-democratic forces who are desperate to subvert Nigeria’s constitution,
short-circuit the legal process and truncate our democracy out of sheer
desperation to cling to power at all costs.”
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