Just as many Nigerians have disapproved of the planned
arraignment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, other
notable regional leaders in the South have also described the action as sectional
and provocative.
Former federal Commissioner for Information and
leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, who already vowed
that the Niger Delta would resist every effort targeted at forcing Onnoghen out
of office, said his people are being treated as second-class citizens in
Nigeria.
According to Clark, "The news of the planned
arraignment of Onnoghen came to us as a shock. It is an embarrassing and a
disgraceful act of the federal government, which the international community
will never accept. We are damaging our image because some people just want to
rule this country forever.
"I am the leader of Pan-Niger Delta Forum, and
I am speaking on behalf of the people the South-south. We are opposed to the arraignment
in every form. We resist it bitterly in every way and form. We resist it
constitutionally that this is a dangerous act of the federal government aimed
at just their interests.
"They know that the CJN will not do their bidding
after they have rigged the election, so they need someone who will do their bidding."
Considering it as part of an orchestrated affront at
the South-south, Clark said: "The CJN is a Nigerian from the South-south,
and we know very well that President Muhammadu Buhari had never wanted him
appointed until he went to London on health vacation which gave the opportunity
for the acting president to approve the appointment. So, he has never been
happy since then. They do not see the man dancing to their tune."
Insisting that the government, which is obviously
behind the development, is acting a wrong script, Clark said: "Without
following due process, feeling that one race is superior to the other, they wrote
a petition on January 7, on the 9th they delivered it to the Code of Conduct
Bureau (CCB) and on the 10th, they decided to charge him to court. They just muddled
up everything. Otherwise, the proper thing to do is to petition the NJC."
The leader of the South-south said: "I am
appealing to the president to stop this act of aggression against the people of
Nigeria. We had the case of the acting Director-General of the Department of
State Security (DSS), Mathew Seiyefa, and Buhari also removed him and brought
in someone from his own state who had retired to take over DSS. Are we not
Nigerians? Why are we being treated as slaves in a country that belongs to all
of us? If they don't want us to stay together let us go to our various places.
"There is nobody in this country who is in
support of this act except Itsey Sagay, a prominent SAN, who is dancing to the
tune of the government, a man who has lost his sense of reasoning. But
everybody is against the action being taken.
"What happened to Sudan should be a lesson to
Nigeria. You cannot be counting some people as slaves or masters, it has to
stop!"
Also speaking on behalf of pan-Yoruba
socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said it is an attempt
at eroding Nigerian democratic tenet, and that it must be resisted.
Saying that the South and Middle Belt Leaders Forum
will be meeting on Tuesday to take a stand on the matter, he described the
development as dictatorial.
"It is a sad development that 30 days to the
election, a former aide of President Buhari, who recently conferred award on
Ganduje, will now become a whistleblower to find out declaration of assets
issue with the CJN; file a petition within four days before CCT without proper
investigation, subverting due process with no reference to National Justice
Commission (NJC). This shows that President Buhari would have preferred a CNJ
from Daura to be in charge. He has shown during the period of these three and
half years that he can only trust his people, and to the rest of the country,
he is only fulfilling the constitutional requirement, otherwise, he has no
business with the rest of Nigeria.
"It is a challenge to us as a country that there
is crippling dictatorship in Nigeria and it is our democracy they want to wipe
out. You know they started with the National Assembly? Now it is the judiciary,
so it is the executive and Buhari that will remain after rubbishing other
organs of government," he said.
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