Onnoghen’s Suspension: I Am Solidly Behind Buhari, Says El-Rufai
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Governor Nasir El-Rufai has said he is fully in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to suspend Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen and appoint Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed as acting CJN.
The Kaduna State governor made this stand clear in a tweet on Friday.
He said it is time actions and decisions are taken in Nigeria without ethnic or religious biases, adding that on the Buhari’s latest decision, he is “solidly” behind the President.
El-Rufai’s tweet reads thus: “SANITY NEEDS RESTORATION: About time this institutional gobbledygook and regionalization to justify admitted wrongdoing are confronted. Justice must not give way to legal gymnastics and absurd technicalities. I am solidly with PMB on this, as always!!”
SANITY NEEDS RESTORATION: About time this institutional gobbledygook and regionalization to justify admitted wrongdoing are confronted. Justice must not give way to legal gymnastics and absurd technicalities. I am solidly with PMB on this, as always!! https://t.co/vS9owyiuqL
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) January 25, 2019
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Meanwhile, Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki has said that the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, is a “coup against democracy”.
In a statement on Friday, the Senate President said the move by President Muhammadu Buhari is an over-reach of the powers in the Executive arm of government.
Dr Saraki said Onnoghen’s suspension is a deliberate attempt to endanger Nigeria’s hard-won democracy.
Saraki said President Buhari’s action undermines the Nation’s judiciary, adding that it subverts the constitution, intimidates judges of all the courts of record, and creates uncertainty in the electoral process.
The legislator said Buhari has initiated a process the consequence of which no one can predict. “He has precipitated a Constitutional crisis,” Saraki said.