The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has reacted to the controversies over the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Onaiyekan described it as a distraction the nation cannot afford, ahead of the 2019 general elections.
He spoke with journalists last night in Abuja on the sidelines of his 75th birthday celebration.
The Archbishop said: “I am surprised at the amount of controversy that has been generated on a matter that ought to be straight forward. No matter the position one takes on the matter, one thing is certain: the action of the President has created a lot of bad blood and dust in the political atmosphere.
“Something has happened that should not happen. Let nobody tell you that the rules for removing the CJN are not clear
“No matter how you look at the suspension of the CJN, the fact remains that it is a major distraction that we cannot afford going into the 2019 elections.”
The cleric also warned the Executive arm of government against seeking to intimidate and subjugate the judiciary and the legislature.
According to Onaiyekan: “Since the executive has the ‘ownership of military power,’ it has an edge over the other two arms of government but the whole system cannot stand unless the three are standing tall like a tripod.
“If the constitution and the Supreme Court says Mr. President is wrong, he is not infallible, he should be able to say ‘Okay, I was mis-advised’. If the Supreme Court says he is right, we should all accept it and move on so that we can do our election peacefully, justly, and fairly.”
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