The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has disputed claims by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that President Muhammadu Buhari was not aware of the plan to arraign the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Justice Onnoghen was arraigned before the Justice Danladi Umar led Code of Conduct Tribunal on Monday on charges of asset declaration infractions.
Speaking on the matter on Wednesday, Osinbajo said Buhari only got to know about plans to arraign the CJN on Saturday.
In a statement Wednesday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the main opposition party accused the Vice President of being economical with the truth.
The party told Osinbajo that Nigerians are aware that there is no way such high level decision, like the arraignment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria in a court, would be taken without the awareness, input and clearance of Mr. President.
Rejecting Osinbajo’s claims that the Federal Government was saddened by the development, the PDP challenged the Vice President to explain why Mr. President neither stopped the arraignment on Monday nor said a word on the matter since then.
The PDP however said, if the avowal by the Vice President was true, then it confirmed the assertion that President Buhari is not in charge of governance but has outsourced the responsibilities of his office to unelected individuals, due to his incompetence.
The party said: “Vice President Osinbajo’s assertion has also confirmed the claims by our First Lady, Aisha Buhari that a cabal has taken over the control of the Presidency, for which she forcefully called on Nigerians to take back their country.
“The PDP notes the Buhari Presidency is only trying to sway public opinion on the matter following the outrage by Nigerians against the arraignment of the CJN.
“The party urges all lovers of democracy and rule of law to continue to be on their guard in the defence of our nation against anti-democratic tendencies of the Buhari administration, particularly the clamp down on democratic institutions in our country”.
