The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on
President Muhammadu Buhari to tender an unreserved apology to the Chief Justice
of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, and restore him to his position with
immediate effect.
Onnoghen is standing trial on an alleged six-count
charge of failure to disclose his assets as required by the law for public
office holders.
The charge was preferred against him by the federal
government following a petition to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by Mr.
Dennis Aghanya, an associate of President Buhari, and a director of the
Anti-corruption and Research Database Initiative.
Following the trial, the president suspended the
CJN from office in controversial circumstances.
The party made its position known on Tuesday in a
communiqué signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the party,
Chief Ralph Nwosu and Alhaji Said Abdullahi respectively, and read by its
National Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Yemi Kolapo, at a press conference after the
National Working Committee (NWC) meeting of the party.
According to the party, “We call on President
Buhari to tender an unreserved apology to Justice Walter Onnoghen, and restore
him to his position with immediate effect. Any further progression of the
torture of this Supreme Court chief would debase Nigeria. The government must
learn to operate constitutionally and accord respect and due courtesies to
members of all arms of government and the generality of Nigerians.”
The party lamented that its strategic goals during
the general election were not met because the country’s democracy was
tragically challenged, adding that there was collusion between the federal
government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cheat
and deliver results scripted from the presidency.
Kolapo alleged that the government in power
promoted violence and used the police, military and other intelligence agencies
and thugs to terrorise innocent citizens and pollute the electoral space.
Earlier, Nwosu regretted that democratic
advancement and growth had plummeted since 2015 when Buhari came to power.
He stressed that the degeneration has climaxed with
the nature of the 2019 elections, lamenting that state institutions like the
INEC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt
Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and the National
Communication Commission (NCC) have become compromised and serve as tools in
the hand of the presidency.
According to him, “The post-mortem of the 2019
general election signals a democracy in a sordid state, a Nigerian nation in
relapse and a political leadership in denial.
“As a nation we have found ourselves in a situation
worse than the events that truncated the first republic; all the divisive
signs, disregard for lives, bloodbath, ethnic hostilities, electoral violence
and leadership and institutional failures that orchestrated the demise of the
first republic and near rupture of the country have become usual features in
our present state.
“Unfortunately, President Buhari, who was voted
into office in 2015, and his All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders feel no
sense of burden, rather they are blinded by self-glory and intransigent
political ululation.”
Nwosu, however, urged the judiciary to save the country
and take decisive action to make reckless politicians pay the price.
ADC also said it would continue to give unalloyed
support to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji
Atiku Abubakar, in his quest to reclaim his
mandate, stressing that like most Nigerians, the party believes the people
voted for him (Atiku) to be president.
“President Buhari, INEC and other security agencies
are merely colluding to circumvent the will of the people. This cannot stand,”
ADC stated.
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