Reps Back CJN, Blast Buhari For Being Desperate

Members of the House of Representatives elected on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, platform, have vowed to stand together to fight anti-democratic forces desperate to subvert Nigeria’s constitution.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuma Onyema, and issued to reporters at the weekend.
The PDP Caucus condemned the forceful suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria ,CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari
The statement read: “It is no surprise that within a short while, President Muhammadu Buhari’s unprecedented unilateral replacement of Justice Walter Onnoghen with Justice Tanko Mohammed has reverberated so loudly across the world; so has news of how Onnoghen’s residence was unjustifiably blanketed by forces of coercion during the weekend.
“We note too, that the United Kingdom, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) and the United States have joined their voices with that of credible and progressive Nigerian democrats, legal professionals and civil society in expressing very deep concerns over the constitutionality or lack thereof, of the Presidency’s suspension of the chief officer of the judicial arm.
“With less than 20 days to the presidential and National Assembly election and with few hours to the constitution of election tribunal judges done on Saturday, the APC/Buhari administration has unequivocally shown its determination to use sleight of hand methods in forcing an election win by all undemocratic means possible.
“As many have rightly noted, the hurried timing of the action, so close to the next election suggests a hidden and perverse agenda by a government that lives in an echo chamber of self-adulation, promising change and transparency while perilously endangering democracy and short-circuiting due process.
Without citing any explicit constitutional authority and hiding behind ‘an order from the Code of Conduct Tribunal,’ President Buhari flagrantly violated the provisions of Section 292 (2) of the 1999 Constitution that clearly lays out how the Chief Justice of Nigeria can be removed from office.