ONNOGHEN: 4 questions PANDEF wants Buhari to answer

PAN–Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to respond to four key questions over the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

The umbrella body of traditional rulers, leaders and stakeholders of the oil region of Niger Delta, raised the posers this weekend. They condemned the suspension and called for immediate reinstatement of Onnoghen.

In the statement released by PANDEF National Secretary, Dr. Alfred Mulade, the group also called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to boycott the Courts “until this illegality is reversed.”

The statement read: “Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad should be sanctioned by the National Judicial Council, NJC, for his willful participation in this ‘coup’ against the office of the CJN and the Nigerian constitution.

“The Courts should not sit until Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad is barred from parading himself as the CJN and Honourable Mr. Justice Walter Onnoghen promptly reinstated.

“The National Assembly should pass a resolution condemning this violation of the Constitution and to ensure that it is reversed with immediate effect. It must be emphasized that the National Assembly is a microcosm of the people of Nigeria, and every section of this great country has, because of adult suffrage, delegated its voice to her.

“The NASS is now at a particular unique junction at this time of our history, when we now face real issues of the Nation, which currently stands on the edge of precipice. She has the legislative empowerment, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), to take the necessary actions that can reverse this ugly trend.

“Well-meaning Nigerians irrespective of political divide should rise against this monumental absurdity of the century until it is reversed.”

The group then asked Buhari, “When was the motion that led to the infamous CCT order moved? Was it taken after the Tribunal adjourned on the 23 January at about 3 pm? Is it possible that after the Court had adjourned, the Tribunal reconvened to take a motion exparte after the defendants had been served on notice? Or was the Order made the next day of business on 24 January 2019 after the Court of Appeal granted a restraining Order against the Tribunal?”

Speaking further the group said, “From the above posers, it is clearly evident that the Tribunal circumvented the process to empower and misled the President by backdating the Order to 23 January whereby it was signed by only two member – Danladi Umar and Julie Anabor of the Tribunal. What happened to the third member?

“The President acted on a fraudulent Order, emanating from an inferior Court without jurisdiction to remove the CJN. He acted on the Order procured by a tribunal, which blatantly and flagrantly chose to disobey a subsisting Court Order even when the Defence copiously referred the Tribunal to Supreme Court decisions, which upheld the sanctity of respecting all Courts Orders of Superior Courts of Record.

“Clearly, the Judicial Arm which is the pillar of integrity upon which our democracy rests is under siege; Separation of Powers and Rule of Law is threatened. Indeed the independence of the judiciary shall be subjugated and consumed if this brazen action is allowed to stand.

“The principles and tenets for rule of law, and judiciary, being the hope of the common man is being jeopardized. This also brings to mind the invasion of the National Assembly by hooded security operatives of the DSS, last year, that caused the nation untold embarrassment before the rest of the world. It is a dangerous precedence, and must be resisted by all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians.

“PANDEF further considers it as part of the unfair treatment, unnecessary persecution and discrimination being meted against persons from the South-South geopolitical zone and the Niger Delta region by the President Muhammad Buhari -led federal government since its inception in 2015.

“We wish to recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had overtly demonstrated reluctance in appointing Justice Walter Onnoghen as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria by delaying the forwarding of his name to the Senate for confirmation, following his recommendation for the position by the National Judiciary Commission (NJC), being the most senior member of the apex bench at the time.

“It was only after an avalanche of condemnation of the delay by leaders of the South-South/Niger Delta region, and other patriotic Nigerians, including some federal lawmakers that Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, then acting President, transmitted his name to the Senate for confirmation as Chief Justice of Nigeria.

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“Also recall that Mr. Matthew Seiyefa was appointed in acting capacity as Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS), being the most senior officer in the Service, following the sack of Lawal Daura, the former DG-DSS by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who was acting President at the time, over the disgraceful siege at the National Assembly in July last year.

“Surprisingly, President Muhammadu Buhari refused to confirm Matthew Seiyefa, an indigene of Bayelsa State, as substantive DG. But instead Mr. President replaced him with a retired officer from Kano State, less than a month of his return from vacatio.

It restated, “The action of Mr. President in suspending the CJN, relying on a purported court order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) is so sad, unfortunate a show of brigandage and sheer demonstration of institutionalization of illegality. It is akin to suspending the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and enthroning dictatorship, anarchy and principle of self-help.”

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