Elder statesman Edwin Clark has made some serious allegations against former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Cyber Reporters reports Clark claims that Buhari removed former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, from office due to the “mischief” he wanted to carry out during the 2019 presidential election.
In a letter to the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Clark commended the Court of Appeal’s judgment acquitting Onnoghen of all charges related to false declaration of assets.
Clark expressed his delight at the judgment, stating that it was a vindication of Onnoghen’s integrity.
According to Clark, Buhari, along with former Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, oppressed and humiliated Onnoghen.
He described Buhari’s actions as “disgraceful, callous, unjust, and barbaric”. Clark’s allegations suggest that Buhari’s removal of Onnoghen was motivated by a desire to exert control over the judiciary ahead of the 2019 elections.
Cyber Reporters recalls that the removal of Onnoghen from office was widely criticized at the time, with many viewing it as an attempt by Buhari to undermine the independence of the judiciary.
Clark said: “As for the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, in his own case, ‘a Daniel has come to judgment’. I knew he was not fairly treated; he was oppressed and humiliated by President Muhammadu Buhari and his Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
“At this juncture, let me say this: President Tinubu’s government must not allow sacred cows to exist in Nigeria, no matter whose ox is gored. There is no one who is above the law in his own country. A president of a country is just one of the ordinary members in the country, but once elected, enjoys immunity. There is nowhere therefore in the constitution or any legal document where it is stated that immunity is for life.
“Today in Nigeria, we have corrupt Presidents and some of them today are accusing their successors of corruption without looking back at what they themselves stole while in office but no one dares to touch them. Perhaps, it is an irony of fate for the former CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who was one of the Supreme Court Justices whose judgment favored President Muhammadu Buhari in his presidential election case in the Supreme Court in 2011.”
“He (Buhari) allowed him to rise to the post of CJN but he saw that, that was not good enough for him because if Justice Onnoghen was to remain the CJN, the mess and mischievous things they wanted to carry out during the presidential election in 2019, Justice Onnoghen would not accept it and the best thing was to remove him, and this was the secret plan between President Buhari and his Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
“The show of shame that took place at the time was so disgraceful, callous, unjust and so barbaric that instead the President of Nigeria, who swore to an oath of office that he would maintain security and welfare of Nigerians, chose to stoop so low in order to humiliate a fellow Nigerian because he wanted to be President of Nigeria at all costs for a second term. It is a shame which Nigeria has just recovered from.”
Clark’s allegations have brought the issue back into the spotlight, raising questions about Buhari’s actions during his time in office.
