The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its national chairman Prince Uche Secondus and presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have condemned moves by the Presidency to prosecute the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Media reports on Saturday indicated that Justice Onnoghen will on Monday, be arraigned at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for asset declaration infractions.
But in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP accused the Buhari Presidency of plotting to destabilise and annex the Judiciary ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The party also alerted that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and a cabal at the Presidency were hounding Justice Onnoghen.
The plot, according to the PDP, was to get the CJN removed so as to cause a constitutional crisis, instill fear in judicial officers and pave the way for the foisting of a pliable CJN that will do their bidding on electoral matters.
The PDP said: โThis is particularly following allegations that the APC seeks a new CJN that will aid its rigging schemes as well as execute the plot to use the court to detain and put opposition members and outspoken members of Civil Society Organizations out of circulation during the general elections.
โThis development is a clear recipe for anarchy and a huge crisis that is capable of fracturing our justice system and derail our democracy as it portends a prelude to a total clamp down on institutions of democracy and rule of law in our country.
โThe PDP therefore urges all Nigerians, the United Nations and all international bodies to unite in the defence of our democracy, especially at this very critical time in our political developmentโ.
Secondus accused the ruling party of attempts to destroy the nationโs judiciary, barely 30 days to the general election, adding itโs a desperate move to manipulate and thwart the will of Nigerians.
Addressing a mammoth crowd of party supporters at a rally in Jos, Plateau State on Saturday, Secondus said the APC is afraid of an independent judiciary because of its agenda to rig the elections.
The party chair stated Nigerians were ready and determined to throw the APC out of power, adding that no amount of threats and harassment will deter the people from effecting what he called inevitable change.
Atiku warned the President and his party against throwing the country into an avoidable crisis over their desperation to sack Justice Onnoghen.
In a statement in Abuja by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, the PDP presidential candidate said the principle of separation of powers must be respected.
Atiku described the plot to sack the CJN as a preemptive move against the Bench, in the face of imminent defeat and knowing the role that the judiciary plays in the final outcome of elections.
The statement reads: โWe have just been made aware of the plot by President Buhari and the APC to sack Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen using flimsy assets declaration issues as a pretext.
โWe 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.
โThe 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.
โBut 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.
โHeavens did not fall when PDP lost to the APC in 2015. And heavens will not fall now that the APC is sure to lose to the PDP, seeing that the APCโs plan to rig in the forthcoming elections will not pull throughโ.
Atiku identified M. Dennis Aghanya who authored the petition against the CJN as the National Publicity Secretary of President Buhariโs defunct political party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Aghanya filed the petition in his capacity as the Executive Secretary of the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI).
Atiku promised President Buhari and the APC an epic constitutional battle, the consequences of which can only be imagined should they succeed in the plot to remove the CJN
He called on Nigerians to resist the current move to silence the judiciary, saying Nigeriaโs democracy and not the judiciary is on trial.
