Atiku condems Onnoghen’s removal, accuses Buhari of dictatorship

The presidential candidate of Nigeria’s main opposition party, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the suspension of the Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Abubakar is facing Mr Buhari as the president’s main challenger at the general elections starting on February 16.

Mr Buhari announced suspension of Mr Onnoghen on Friday afternoon, accusing the top jurist of failing to properly declare his assets in violation of the Nigerian code of conduct law. Mr Onnoghen denied the allegations, and the matter had been taken before a tribunal.

The tribunal has not ruled on the matter, but granted a controversial ex-parte order for the president to suspend Mr Onnoghen from office indefinitely.

Mr Onnoghen was suspended a day before he was scheduled to inaugurate the election petition tribunals for next month’s election. Many believe the president acted to prevent him from doing so.

Mr Abubakar said Mr Buhari’s action was a desperate plot to subvert Nigeria’s democracy days into an election in which Nigerians are set to vote him out of office. Mr Buhari has denied allegations of trying to subvert Nigeria’s democracy.

But the removal of the Chief Justice and installations of an acting judge from the president’s northern region could plunge the country into constitutional crisis, according to legal experts who commented on the matter on social media Friday evening.

- Premium Times