A group championing the cause of good governance, Wake Up Nigeria (WUN), has described the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari, three weeks to the general elections as abuse of office and utter disregard to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that brought him to power in 2015.
The group made this declaration in a statement issued by its Chairperson, Maryam Yusuf, a copy which was made available to newsmen, yesterday.
Yusuf, in the statement, argued that the Constitution which is the ground norm for all actions and inactions of public office holders, including the President, has not only been jettisoned but cruelly slaughtered, murdered with the suspension of the CJN.
The group called on the National Assembly, which is the only surviving arm of government, to prevail on the President to rescind his decision.
She said, “The recent suspension of the CJN, Hon Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Buhari, three weeks to the general elections, is the zenith of abuse and utter disregard to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that brought him to power in 2015.
“It is a fact beyond contradiction that those whom the gods want to destroy, they first make mad, and this timeless axiom summarizes the miserable state of the self-acclaimed gatekeeper of our dear nation.
“The Constitution which is the ground norm for all actions and inactions of public office holders including the President, has not only been jettisoned; but cruelly slaughtered, murdered and the carcasses left to the demented disciples of the next level fallacy to consume while the nation hangs on the edge of precipice.
“The impending doom that this constitutional impasse is likely to throw our dear country into is what the apologists of the truncation of democratic norms and practices cannot fathom let alone imagine its destructive pangs on the pillars that hold the Nigerian nation.
“The President has taken the dance too far and nothing short of the demise of his infamous and ignoble reign of terror on democracy can save our dear nation from eclipsing into limbo with the deleterious effects ravaging her soul in a horrific and horrendous carnage.
“For the president to choose which court order to obey and which one to disobey reveals in crystalline vista, his despotic and totalitarian genetic make-up which he can only strive in vain to convince us to the contrary.
“The international community has responded in stern language without mincing words to this illegality and uncouth desperation to hold onto power by all means by the APC led government.
“We at ‘Wake Up Nigeria’ are calling on the National Assembly which is the only surviving arm of government to stop the monster before his monstrous ilk consumes us all.
The group also appealed to the NBA, NJC and other organisations to rise in defence of the nation’s democracy and judiciary.
“We also appeal to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), National Judicial Council (NJC), Civil society Organizations (CSOs), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other critical stakeholders nationally and internationally to rise to the occasion and pressure Buhari to reverse course to save the nation from anarchy and disintegration.