Even If Allegations Against Onnoghen Are True, CCB, Was Wrong – Atiku

Ilesanmi AdekanbiJanuary 13, 2019

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Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar has warned President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, not to throw the country into an avoidable crisis, following reported plan by the federal government to sack the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen.

Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen In a statement issued in Abuja Saturday by Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, the PDP candidate said the principle of separation of powers remains sacrosanct in a constitutional democracy like the one being run by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Atiku said the plot to sack Justice Onnoghen is a preemptive move against the bench in the face of imminent electoral defeat and knowing the role that the judiciary plays in the final outcome of elections.

The statement read, “We have just been made aware of the plot by President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC to sack Justice Walter Onnoghen using flimsy assets declaration issues as a pretext.

We are aware that there are plans to arraign Justice Onnoghen before the Justice Danladi Yakubu Umar led- Code of Conduct Tribunal on Monday, January, 14, 2019. The charge against Onnoghen, we understand has already been filed and served on him last Friday at his official residence in Abuja preparatory to his appearance at the Tribunal.

”But we warn that despite the clandestine meetings in the highest echelon of the APC and also involving some top officials of the federal government which include the Code of Conduct Tribunal, neither Buhari nor the APC can re-write the Nigerian Constitution just because of its impending defeat at the February 16, presidential election