Kehinde Adewole, Ado-Ekiti
Immediate Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has criticised the action of President Mohammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, describing the development as “one last show of desperation by a rejected President.”
The ex-governor said: ” Those the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. This
sinking government taking on the CJN is desperation taken too far.
“From Amina Zakari to the illegal plot to extend the Inspector General of Police (IGP) tenure and now assault on the CJN, it is obvious that God has departed from this government as He left the Biblical Saul.”
Fayose who spoke through his Media Aide, Lere Olayinka, said the speed with which the petition against the CJN was acted upon
clearly exposed the sinister intention of the Presidency, asking; “how is it explainable for a petition to be written on January 7, received by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on January 9 and charges made against the CJN on January 11?”
He said “Meanwhile, former Abia State Governor, Orji Kalu who was declared wanted by the court for jumping bail is everywhere campaigning for the President and APC. Why didn’t the federal governor act swiftly in arresting Kalu like it acted on the petition against the CJN?”
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Alleging that the move to remove the CJN was part of the Presidency’s plot to rig the February general elections, Fayose said; “the latest onslaught on the CJN and by extension, the judiciary is a well orchestrated plot to get a judicial soft-landing for the impending rigging of the presidential election in particular and other elections in favour of the APC.
“They are not unaware that the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) cannot try a sitting judge, but are only out to use the arraignment as a premise for asking Justice Onnoghen to step aside. In other words, they are not really interested in trying him, they only want him out and the moment he steps aside, nothing will be heard about the case again.”
The former governor said President Buhari never wanted Justice Onnoghen as CJN, adding that; “He refused to send his nomination to the Senate despite recommendation by the National Judicial Council (NJC). If not for the circumstances that took the President abroad, Onnoghen wouldn’t have become a substantive CJN.
“Therefore, moving against the CJN at this time is a clear sign of what to come if President Buhari is reelected and Nigerians must be resolute in their rejection of the President and his party on February 16.”