The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has weighed in on the recent suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Nkanu Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Dogara, in a statement made available to PoliticsNGR, raised alarm that Nigeria’s democracy was ‘on fire’. The Statement read;
“With
the unconstitutional suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)
by President Muhammadu Buhari, the world has been served with notice
that Nigeria is now a full-blown dictatorship. This did not come as a
rude shock except to those that have been blind to the gradual but
progressive erosion of democratic values in the polity as President
Buhari’s Government has never hidden its disdain for the rule of law.”
“We
have watched in disbelief as the Government recklessly deploys
institutional prerogatives; routinely flouts the rule of law; subverts
and assaults democratic Institutions; refuses to accept opponents as
legitimate; suppresses citizens civil liberties(especially those of
opponents) and trample underfoot the media. In short, the Government’s
tyrannical and authoritarian credentials are loathsomely legendary.”
“No
provision in Sections 157 and 292 of the 1999 Constitution as amended
supports the President in purporting to suspend the CJN or swearing in
an acting CJN. The whole idea of a limited government is that the
President’s powers is limited by law and it is ultra vires his powers to
act in the absence of explicit legislative authorization. That is
representative democracy at its best which our 1999 Constitution as
amended guarantees.”
“It is instructive to note that our
Constitution does not contemplate or presupposes a situation whereby the
Judiciary will have a suspended CJN and an acting CJN at the same time.
Therefore, it is right to posit, as some have done that the President
now has his own Chief Judge to do his bidding while Nigeria has a
sitting CJN until he is removed in line with the provisions of the
Constitution.”
“The awfully crude annexation of the judiciary by
the President in violation of his oath of office and the Constitution
cannot be for any other reason except, as alleged by so many, to prepare
the judiciary ahead of time for the purpose of conferring some aura of
legitimacy to the contraption that the 2019 general elections may after
all become.”
“I therefore call on the President to remember that
he has no better legacy to bequeath other than a good name: which cannot
be achieved without honour, character and integrity. Honour and
integrity demand that he upholds his oath of office by reversing this
assault on our Constitution and following the manifestly clear and
unambiguous constitutional procedure for the removal of the CJN if he
must be removed. Anything short of this demeans all of us.”
“To
our citizens, we must now head the warning of the Irish lawyer cum
orator, John Philpot Curran who said, “the condition upon which God had
given liberty to man is eternal vigilance: which condition if he breaks,
servitude is at once the consequences of his crime, and the punishment
of his guilt”. Despotism can only prosper in Nigeria if good men and
women do nothing.”
“I also call on all lovers of freedom and
democracy all over the world to rise to the occasion and demand of this
Government and the President to halt the march to anarchy and bedlam:
which dictatorship promotes. The world has an experience in this and it
must not allow this unmitigated disaster on Nigeria before it acts to
restore sanity.”
“As of today, Nigeria is now Germany in the wake
of the 1933 Reichstag fire. Our democracy is on fire; ignited by the
very people who swore to protect and defend it. That this fire must not
convert the Chancellor to Fuhrer as it happened in Germany in 1933
depends on our collective response and that of the international
community. We must not bow our knees to dictatorship: not now, not ever
again.”
Source:- Politicsngr
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