.Says sanctity of judiciary must be protected
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has called on the acting President, Prof Yemi
Osinbajo, to send the name of Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for
confirmation as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) without further delay.
He said, “Prof Osinbajo, a lawyer himself should know
that it is dangerous to the unity of Nigeria and sustenance of democracy that it is now being insinuated that Justice Onnoghen is
being denied appointment as substantive CJN on the basis of ethnicity and politics.”
The governor also said that himself and other Nigerians agitating for the
appointment of Onnoghen as the substantive CJN were not
fighting for Onnoghen as a person, but the sanctity of the
office of the CJN, which the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government was trying to rubbish.
In a statement issued on Saturday by his Special Assistant on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said that it was strange that President Muhammadu Buhari chose to appoint Justice
Onnoghen as Acting CJN despite that the National Judicial Council (NJC) recommended him to the President since October 13, 2016, 28 clear days to November 10, 2016 that the immediate past CJN, Justice
Mahmud Mohammed, retired.
The governor said; “As a lawyer, acting President Osinbajo should do the needful by simply sending Justice Onnoghen’s name to the Senate as
recommended by the NJC.”
Reacting to Justice Onnoghen’s plea that Nigerians should not
pressurize Buhari into making him the substantive CJN, and
that the president does not need any threat or ultimatum to perform his
constitutional duties,” Fayose said; “We are not fighting for
Justice Onnoghen as an individual. Rather, we are fighting for Nigeria and the sanctity of the office of the CJN which for the first time in
the history of judiciary in Nigeria is being used to play political and ethic games.
“Justice Onnoghen should therefore carry on with his job as the acting CJN and leave Nigerians to put pressure on President Buhari, who has refused to perform his mandatory constitutional responsibility of
sending name of anyone nominated by the NJC for appointment as CJN to the Senate for confirmation.”
He said, “One of the principles on which Nigeria is operated is
Federal Character and it was this Federal Character that brought President Buhari to office. Therefore, the principle of Federal
Character must be respected on the appointment of CJN.
“It should not be seen as if Justice Onnoghen was denied of his
appointment as a substantive CJN because he is from the South-South or that they want to use his pending appointment as substantive CJN to make him do their biddings.”
Fayose, who maintained that playing politics with the
judiciary, especially at the CJN level was dangerous to the survival
of democracy, vowed that Buhari and his APC will not be
allowed to destroy the judiciary as they destroyed the country’s economy and the electoral system.
