‘Two wrongs can’t make a right’ — Bakare asks Buhari to follow due process with Onnoghen

Tunde Bakare, serving overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, has
called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to
follow due process in the trial of Walter Onnoghen, chief justice
of Nigeria (CJN).

Delivering his state of the nation address in Lagos on Sunday,
Bakare said Nigeria must become a country where no one, including
the president and CJN, is above the law.

“The Nigeria of our dreams is a land where no one is above the
law; where the law applies equally to the rich and the poor; to the
president and the petty trader; to the Senator and the janitor;
and, I dare say, to the Chief Justice of the Federation and the
gateman in a magistrate court,” Bakare said.

“It is in this regard that I enjoin every Nigerian to put
Nigeria first and approach the current matter involving the highest
judicial officer of the land without bias, in the interest of
justice and accountability, with the objective of institution
building and in the spirit of the New Nigeria.

“Note, in addition, that the prosecutors must themselves operate
in accordance with due process, with utmost respect for the
independence of the judiciary, and in compliance with
constitutional provisions on both substantive and procedural
matters, knowing that two wrongs, no matter how seemingly
well-intentioned, cannot make a right.”

In his address themed, “The Prophetic Portrait of Nigeria in Her
Latter Days,” Bakare called on Nigerians to join in building a new
Nigeria.

“Beyond the elections, the Buharis, the Atikus, the Moghalus,
the Ezekwesilis, the Durotoyes, the Sowores and the like come
together to minimise our weaknesses and maximise our strengths, as
one political family, with one agenda – nationhood – we can shape a
new nation beyond 2019.

“That is what Team Restructuring is all about and that is the
climax of my message on this platform in this final state of the
nation broadcast – The CanDo spirit that accompanies Restructuring
for a United Nigeria.

“This is a new kind of ‘can-do spirit.’ It is the word ‘can’
with two ‘n’s’: CA-N-N. It is the call to Create A New Nigeria
(CANN) and the message is simple: ‘Divided we can’t, together, we
CANN’ – Divided, we can’t, together, we Create A New Nigeria.”