Estate mogul and former gubernatorial aspirant of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Alex Obiechina, has slammed immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen, for alleging malice in his removal from office.
Onnoghen, in a remark during his 70th birthday celebration, in Abuja, told the audience that he was never told the reason for his removal as CJN, stressing, “how do you feel when you wake one morning and asked to resign, without anybody telling you the offence you committed?”
But Obiechina urged the former chief justice to stop such bluster, reminding him that his disgrace out of office was God’s answer to his (Obiechina’s) prayers after he (Onnoghen) refused to assign his governorship election appeal to a judge for adjudication, until the case became a mere academic endeavour.
In a statement, he recalled how the former CJN enjoined him to take his matter to God, if he was not satisfied with his decision as CJN, noting that he did as Onnoghen directed.
Taking a swipe at the former CJN for claiming he was not told his offence before his ignominious removal, Obiechina stated: “If he was not told his offence, what did he go to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to defend? What was he defending then at the High Courts and later, Court of Appeal?
“What were his team of lawyers defending in those courts or were they busybodies? This is a case of refusing to tell oneself the basic truth. If you do not know why you were removed, go to Google and see that the world knows. You are equally saying that the rulings and judgments delivered by different courts on this matter were not based on legal facts before the courts, but merely delivered at the figments and inventions of those judges, since there was no case against you before them.
“By implication, as a former High Court Judge, Appeal Court judge, Justice of the Supreme Court and CJN, you are telling Nigerians and the entire world to lose faith in Nigerian judiciary, as judgments obtained in Nigerian courts, from your experience, are not based on law, but on extraneous factors.
“Was that what you were doing? If you were not doing so, why kill the system that raised you up and fed you, simply because you mis-endeavoured and crashed?”
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