CJN’s removal, direct attack on rule of law – Bode George

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George has described the purported removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen as “illegal, illegitimate, unconstitutional and a direct attack against all the norms of the rule of law.” George, who is the Atona of Yorubaland, in a statement Friday […]

Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George has described the purported removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen as “illegal, illegitimate, unconstitutional and a direct attack against all the norms of the rule of law.”

George, who is the Atona of Yorubaland, in a statement Friday night said the purported removal was an assault on democracy.

“This democracy is no longer at ease. The dark clouds of tyranny are circling everywhere”, he said.

He stressed that there is no where in the Nigerian Constitution where the President can “whimsically remove the Chief Justice of the Federation without the adherence to laid down procedures.”

He said all good men and women must make a choice.

“You either stand boldly with the truth or hide shamefully behind crude survivalism. May God guide our nation aright. This capricious cloudiness must not stand.

“The tripodal anchor upon which the basic verities of the democratic order is built is now shattered, eroded by the caprice of the Executive.

“Democracy is now skewed, made imbalance by an unguarded, self-consuming leadership.

“Alas, the normative order is thus imperiled. Power is now riotous, stripped of contemplative equity.

“We must all speak up in the defense of fairness, equity and the preservation of the rule of law. This is not the time to straddle the fence.”