Undo Onnoghen’s Suspension Now, OccupyNigeria Tells Buhari

More pressure is being mounted on President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse his suspension on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

OccupyNigeria, the socio-political group behind a massive protest in 2012 against the Goodluck Jonathan administration’s fuel subsidy removal, has joined in asking President Buhari to reverse his suspension of Onnoghen.

The President had suspended the embattled CJN on the recommendation of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over allegations of false assets declaration.

But in an open letter on Wednesday, the group wondered if different sets of laws apply to ‘‘scapegoats and sacred cows, depending on whether such are in the good or bad books of the government.’’

The letter was signed by its Convener, Isah Usman, Secretary, Itari Tumer, and spokesperson, Jacob Okpanachi.

It recall that up till now, the sacked Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has not been prosecuted.

OccupyNigeria therefore charged President Buhari to treat backlog of court orders that his administration has either flouted or has not given attention to.

The group described Onnoghen’s ordeal “as the climax of these discernible series of inconsistencies in applications of the powers of the president, which you occupy.”

The letter partly reads, “It has become of grave concern to us, and to many citizens of our great country that we represent, the consistent pattern of treating provisions of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria with utter neglect in performing sometimes noble intentioned functions of your office,” the letter read.

“We have observed a number of seeming inconsistencies in the applications of the weight of the law as domiciled in your office, feeding the now common narrative that Nigerians have been divided into the twin classes of scapegoats and sacred cows, depending on whether such are in the good or bad books of the government when they commit crimes or found to have committed crimes.

“If the fight against corruption remains an ‘existential Policy which must be given adequate attention and commitment by all the three arms of government’, as per your address to the nation on the purported suspension of the CJN, why haven’t the likes of Babachir Lawal not been charged for corruption long after being so indicted?

“If the CJN’s moral authority were to be truly ‘so wounded’ as to lead to calls for his resignation, how come the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal hasn’t been held to the same standards to save the judicial ARM of further disrepute.

“While you raised suspicion over the ‘unholy alacrity between the time of filing, hearing and delivery of judgment’, in favour of the CJN, neutral observers cannot help noticing a similar ‘unholy alacrity’ between the date of submission of petition against the CJN and the filing unheard of in other cases against close associates of yours.

“We share your belief that ‘Nigeria is a constitutional democracy and no one must be, or be seen to be, above the law’, but the disregard for due processes while interfering with the activities of an independent arm of government gives the lie to this statement.”