A civil society group, the Civil Liberty Union CLU, has raised alarm over alleged harrassments and threats against some members of the Supreme Court panel of Justices presiding over the Osun governorship Appeal by a team allegedly led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and two governors; one from the South West and the other from North West.
According to the group, Tinubu and others are allegedly using the names of President Muhammadu Buhari to intimidate the Justices to jettison the supremacy of the Constitution and find any way to give a favourable judgement to Gboyega Oyetola, candidate of the ruling party.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday and signed by its Coordinator, Mallam Shuaibu Adamu, the union alleged that the governors who had arrived a day earlier for the usual FEC meeting spent the night meeting to select Justices who have resisted financial inducements and insisted on following the rule of law and supremacy of the constitution, in line with the oath they swore to when they became Justices of the Supreme Court.
“Tinubu and the two Governors went bullish and desperate when they couldn’t get President Buhari to give explicit support to his quest to influence the Supreme court.
“They however went to falsely quote that the President has directed the Justices to do their bid and forget any matter of constitution by endorsing Oyetola as Governor.
“We are aware of an evil plot to truncate justice in the case of Osun state Governorship Appeal before the Supreme Court.
“We want to alert President Muhammadu Buhari that Bola Tinubu and Two Governors are using his name and office to harass and compel Supreme Justices to rule in their favour. This is happening right now and we want the President to know and act quickly before further damage and utter destruction is done to the Judiciary”, the group noted.
Stating further, the group alleged that “from last night till now, Tinubu has been running helter skelter with both promises of Billions as well as threats of severe consequences against Justices who do not agree.”
The group further declared: “We know authoritatively that President Buhari has told Justice Tanko that the law should take its cause on Osun. We know that Justice Tanko has vowed to allow Justice to prevail.That was why Tinubu is dropping Mr President’s name. We urge the justices to remain steadfast. The whole world knows what happened in Osun was a rape of democracy and an affront to the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria. The UK, US and EU all condemned the election especially the established voter harassments and disenfranchisement that characterized it.
“We affirm to the Justices that ruling on facts and supremacy of the constitution is the right and conscionable path of honour and posterity will judge them as bold and courageous standing for equity and justice.
“We are interested in this matter because it is a stain on the nation’s democratic credential.We need to clean it up by allowing the truth and the constitution to prevail. Mr President also agreed to this line of thought and that was why he has directed the Supreme Court to follow the law and their convictions. We won’t stand by and allow Tinubu to rubbish our country any further.”
“We plan to present a protest letter to the Presidency and the Chief Justice of Nigeria on this matter”, the group added.
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