The Senate president, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has on Friday, January 25, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately reveres himself on the suspension of chief justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Onnoghen.
The Senate president, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately reveres himself on the suspension of chief justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Onnoghen.
Saraki said the president has sent a wrong signal to the world by unilaterally taking a decision of such magnitude and not following the provision of the constitution.
The Senate president said this in a statement on Friday, January 25. He added that the Nigeria's constitution makes no provision for the suspension of the nation’s highest judicial officer.
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The statement read:
"The suspension of the chief justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Onnoghen by President Buhari is an action capable of undermining the nation’s judiciary, subverting the Constitution, intimidating judges, and creating uncertainty in the electoral process.
"By unilaterally suspending the CJN without following the provision of the constitution, President Buhari has sent a dangerous signal to the entire world that Nigeria is no longer a democratic nation.
"Our constitution makes no provision for suspension of the nation’s highest judicial officer. The constitution provides a clear process for removal of the CJN and specify the roles of the three arms of government, beginning from the National Judicial Council (NJC), the National Assembly and lastly, the Presidency, have different roles to play in that process.
"There is no condition under which the president can usurp the powers of other arms of government. I do not know where the President and his advisers got this idea of suspending the CJN on the so-called order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal but this is novel, disingenuous and alien to our laws. It is strange that President Buhari is claiming to be taking orders from a Tribunal which has been ordered by a superior court to halt all actions on the trial.
"With this action, President Buhari has initiated a process the consequence of which nobody can predict. They have precipitated a constitutional crisis.
"At this point, all democratic institutions in the country, the international community and democrats across the world should rise against this blatant act of impunity. We should jointly condemn this retrogressive, uncivilized and despotic measure.
"I call on President Buhari to immediately reverse this decision and allow the due process of the law to take its natural course," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Waziri Adamawa and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Friday, January 25, rejected the suspension of Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari.
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The former vice president who disclosed this in a statement made available to Legit.ng said he rejects the suspension in its entirely and called on Onnoghen and the judiciary to resist the action by every legal and constitutional means.
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Onnoghen's Trial is Politically Motivated - APRJ | Legit TV.
Source: Legit.ng
