Onoghen’s Suspension, a Coup Against Democracy, Says Saraki

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has described the
suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Walter
Onoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari, as a coup against democracy
and a deliberate attempt to endanger our hard-won democracy.

Saraki, in a statement personally signed by him stated that the
suspension was another act of desperation by President Buhari. He
noted that by the suspension of the CJN, Buhari has acted outside
the provision of the constitution, has exercised the powers which
he does not have and that this action amounted to gross
misconduct.

“This is an action aimed at undermtining the nation’s judiciary,
subverting the constitution, intimidating judges of all the courts
of record, and creating uncertainty in the electoral process,
thereby laying the foundation for influencing the outcome of
litigations that might arise from next month’s elections.

“There are already the general belief that this hasty action was
taken to pre-empt the already scheduled inauguration of election
petition tribunals by Hon. Justice Onoghen and to destroy national
institutions that are perceived to be unco-operative in his bid to
manipulate the electoral process leading to next month’s general
elections.

“By unilaterally suspending the CJN without following the
provision of the constitution, President Buhari has taken an action
which amounted to gross misconduct. He has simply sent a dangerous
signal to the entire world that Nigeria is no longer a democratic
nation and that we have returned to the old, jaded era of military
dictatorship .

“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.

“The President and his team must have seen this so-called
suspension as a short-cut to getting Hon. Justice Onnoghen out of
the way since the appellate court has eventually stopped the CCT
from continuing with the trial of the CJN. 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”, Saraki
stated.

He however called on President Buhari to immediately reverse
this decision and allow the due process of law to take its natural
course in determining the guilt or otherwise as well as the
suitability of Hon. Justice Onnoghen to continue as the head of the
nation’s judiciary.