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CJN: Nigeria no longer a colony – Oshiomhole replies UK, US, EU

Published

5 years ago

January 29, 2019

All Progressives Congress National Chairman , Mr . Adams Oshiomhole , has said that Nigeria is no longer a colony to any superpower or answerable to the United Kingdom , the United States and the European Union on how the country runs its internal affairs as a sovereign nation .
He argued that much as Nigeria welcomed friendships and suggestions from outsiders, they were not binding , adding that Nigeria would also not succumb to pressure to offend its internal laws .
The APC national chairman was reacting to the reservations expressed by the UK , the US governments and the EU over the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen , by President Muhammadu Buhari .

Oshiomhole spoke on Monday night in Abuja shortly after a meeting between Buhari and APC senators ended at the Presidential Villa .

Speaking with State House correspondents , Oshiomhole noted , “ The thing is that Nigeria is not a colony . I think we all have to be careful. We must defend the sovereignty of our country . We welcome collaboration, we welcome peer review , we can compare notes, we welcome people who are interested in sharing experiences with us whenever the need arises , whether it is capacity building , making useful suggestions on how we can continue to improve on our electoral process .

“ Those are very valuable contributions that we appreciate. But Nigeria is not a colony . We will not accept any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nigeria.

“ When they dismiss judges in Europe …judges have been dismissed in the United States when they are found guilty of corruption , the Western world cannot on the one hand when it suits them , describe Nigeria as fantastically corrupt and when a corrupt judicial officer is being charged , people want to interfere .

“ What anybody can insist on is anybody being framed ? Is the suspended CJN guilty of the allegations made against him ? Or is it something being cooked out from nowhere ?”

Oshiomhole argued further that Onnoghen admitted having committed the alleged infractions he was accused of by the Code of Conduct Bureau .
He added , “ Now, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has breached the law , if a CJN admits that he has several foreign domiciliary accounts , even though he also admits that by nature of his office , he is not a trader, what is he doing with accounts in British Pounds, US Dollars and in Euros and to the extent of forgetting that he has those accounts ?

“ If he has such memory failure about the size of his number of accounts as to fail to declare them , you and I know that not even ignorance is an excuse in law . So, where are we being hypocritical ?

“ And at a certain level of responsibility , it ’ s not even about legal technicalities . It ’ s about the moral weight , the moral burden you carry.

“ So, nobody should make us feel as though we are at the mercy of any other country .

“ The future of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians and our laws are clear . Our laws are meant to be obeyed . ”

Recall that in a statement last week after Onnoghen ’ s suspension , the Embassy of the US had said that the US “ deeply concerned by the impact of the executive branch ’ s decision to suspend and replace the Chief Justice and head of the judicial branch without the support of the legislative branch on the eve of national and state elections . ”

The UK and the EU expressed similar concerns .