Chukwuemeka Njoku, Abuja.
Constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome ,SAN, has called on Nigerians irrespective of creed, to protest the unconstitutional removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen from office.
Ozekhome said “Nigerians should brace up, come out enmasse, to protest against this illegality.
“We are back to full Abacha era, as former President Olusegun Obasanjo rightly noted three days ago in his patriotic letter to Nigerians.
“Nigerian lawyers and the NBA should shut down all courts in Nigeria until the CJN is returned to his seat” Ozekhome declared.
According to the legal luminary, this was achieved even under military dictatorship in Pakistan, when former Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf illegally removed from office, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on 11th March, 2007.
Following Mohammad Chaudhry removal from office, all the lawyers went on strike, from 15th March, 2007, shut down the courts and protested on the streets for months, until a panel of 7 members of the Supreme Court sat and held that the removal was illegal and reinstated the Chief Justice.
“Nigerian lawyers should act now. The NASS should also shut down in protest and allow Buhari and his cabal have their jolly ride over cowed, hapless, vanquished and conquered Nigerians.
“There is no more democracy in Nigeria. It is as dead as dodo. The coming presidential election is but a mere charade to confer legitimacy on a pre-rigged, on-the-spot rigged and post-rigged election” Ozekhome stated.
“The pretentious chicken has finally come home to roost. This recent act is a big scandalous shame on the Buhari government, assuming it still knows anything called shame. It has tainted it with the paint brush of odium, obliquy and international derision.
“The international community should weigh in immediately to prevent Nigeria from burning” the lawyer stated.
“Buhari has behaved worse than what he was as a military tyrant. Military juntas always only suspended parts of the Constitution they did not like.
“But, by torpedoing the entire judiciary, rule of law and due process, including four valid High Court/Federal High Court rulings and yesterday’s ruling by the Court of Appeal, all of them staying proceedings of the phoney and funny charges levelled against Onnoghen before the CCT, Nigerians now know that we have now become an endangered specie” he said.
With the brazen rape of Nigeria’s constitution and non adherence to the principle rule of law by Buhari, the next election is nothing more than a ritualistic outing to illegally confer life presidency (not just 4 years) on Buhari.
“There is no known basis, legal, constitutional or moral, to hurriedly bypass courts of law, the judicial process and court orders, to illegally remove the CJN and swear in an Acting CJN” Ozekhome posited.
