26th January,
2019
PRESS RELEASE:
WE CONDEMN OVERREACTIONS OVER CJN’S SUSPENSION
A tornado of reactions
has followed the suspension of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN),
Justice Walter Onnoghen. Among such reactions was the suspension of campaigns
by the People’s Democratic Party, the purported shutdown of the National
Assembly (NASS), as well as the threat of public demonstrations and boycott of
the courts by lawyers.
However, the Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC) has described the reactions as superfluous, hasty and
suspicious. MURIC submitted its opinion in a press statement issued on Saturday
26th January, 2019. The statement was signed by its director and founder,
Professor Ishaq Akintola.
“We frown at those
over-reactions. Is this the first time a judge will be suspended? What did the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) do when ex-president Goodluck Jonathan suspended
and eventually removed Justice Ayo Salami who was then president of the Court
of Appeal?
“Isn’t it the norm for
the National Judicial Council (NJC) to suspend any judge who is facing
investigation? Can the NBA explain the alleged inability of the NJC to meet for
some time now due to postponements by the former CJN? Why would the CJN keep
postponing meetings of the NJC? Was he trying to avoid suspension?
“We are all witnesses to astounding cases of miscarriage of
justice in this country. Where was the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) when
Kazeem Sani spent ten years (2006 – 2016) in Kirikiri without trial for
stealing only one phone? 22 years old Rabiu Sani was sentenced to 30 months
imprisonment in September 2016 by a Kano High Court for stealing a pair of
slippers. Where was the NBA?
“Laywet Kelap, 40, was
jailed 2 years in Pankshin, Plateau State in July 2017 for stealing only one
goat. What did any political party do to assist him? An Ibadan court sentenced
four men to death in March 2017 for stealing 4 phones. We did not hear even a
whimper from any political party. In Lagos, a JSS student was docked in October
2016 for stealing his classmate’s N200 and Sylvester Livinus was jailed 4
months in December 2016 for stealing ten fishes.
“These cases were
found to be highhanded and arbitrary by ordinary Nigerians. No senior lawyer
spoke against these astounding judicial pronouncements. Was it because the
suspects were sons of nobodys? Was the NASS on indefinite sabbatical when those
erratic judgements were delivered? Must heaven now fall because a most senior
colleague has been suspended? Should anybody be above the law even if he is the
chief justice? We are living in strange times indeed.
“Or is it the fear of the possibility of the booty being
traced to some people? Why is the NBA ignoring the allegation of corruption and
the CJN’s strange admission that those cash lodgements were actually made but
he ‘forgot’ to mention them. We are shocked to our marrows. It is tyranny of
the judiciary and hypocrisy of the highest order to turn your eyes away from
the CJN’s misdeeds and start harassing the executive. The Nigerian people are
saying no to judicial intimidation.
“PDP’s threat to
suspend campaigns because a CJN was suspended over allegations of
non-declaration of assets and suspicious cash lodgements raises eyebrows. This
is because the party itself was flushed out by Nigerians because its leadership
engaged in massive corruption. The last time we checked, this same party
apologized to Nigerians and vowed to change its ways. Is closing its eyes to
suspicious cash payments into a judge’s bank account the best way to change its
ways? Isn’t the leopard back in its true colours?
“By the way, was PDP
in a kind of ‘understanding’ with the former CJN? Is there something between
the political party and the man in the eye of the storm? We recall that PDP has
repeatedly and aggressively accused the ruling party and Nigeria’s electoral
body of plots to rig the election. Was PDP actually preparing the ground for a
conspiratorial electoral litigation after the 2019 polls relying on the
‘understanding’? Is the PDP suspending its presidential campaigns because that
hope or ‘understanding’ has been dashed?
“Apart from the late Gani Fawehinmi, we are not aware of any
senior lawyer who showed sympathy to the cause of any poor man who has a case
in a Nigerian court. We have not seen the high caliber lawyers caring for poor
Nigerians who received severe punishments for trivial offences.
“MURIC contends that
Nigeria will not become an egalitarian, decent and sane society until the son
of a nobody is certain of getting redress when he is oppressed by the rich and
powerful in society. Nigeria will not become a just society until the rich and
powerful are punished the same way that the poor masses are made to face the
full wrath of the law.
“We therefore urge the
NBA to desist from creating oligarchy of the judiciary. It will never work. Our
learned men should stop seeing Nigeria as an animal farm where the rich are
sacred cows and judges are above the law. We must put an end to dictatorship of
the judiciary. We appeal to all men of goodwill to intervene before it is too
late. We charge the poor masses to rise to the defense of their government. The
general citizenry who are the real victims of corruption and the dictatorship
of the judiciary must not allow a judicial onslaught on
democracy”.
Professor Ishaq
Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC)
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