Just in: I feel very sad that this is going on - VP Osinbajo reacts to trial of CJN Onnoghen

The vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari was actually not aware of the plan to arraign Justice Walter Onnoghen, the embattled Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), until the evening of Saturday, January 12.

The Cable reports that Osinbajo said this on Wednesday, January 16, at the third Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN) conference in Abuja.

According to the report, Osinbajo said he is not happy about the development.

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“I feel very sad that is going on at all,” he said, adding that the president warned that nobody should interfere with what the institutions are doing.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, his whole approach is that, institutions should just do their work. I can tell by fact, that he did not know about this until Saturday evening.

“He did not know that there will be any kind of arraignment till Saturday evening. He has said categorically don’t interfere with what the institutions are doing. Sometimes it has consequences like we have today.

“My take is that I rather not have a situation where members of profession are being tried for an offence.

“I don’t feel good about it, as a matter of fact, I feel very sad about it; that is going on at all. But that is my position on it but I want to say that this is the way it works.”

He said although the chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) is new, he has gotten “specific instruction.

“In the case of the Code of Conduct Bureau chairman, where these things are reported to, he is new, he is barely three weeks on the job but the specific instruction is that if you receive a petition, however it is [you have to] go through the process,” Osinbajo added while urging online publishers to dig for facts on any issue.

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“Justice is slow and unfortunately and it is interfered with it. I will like the online publishers to go into facts of the matter,” Osinbajo reportedly said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that an elder statesman and leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and South South Forum, Edwin Clark, recently condemned the plan by the federal government to arraign the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, over assets declaration.

Chief Afe Babalola, a prominent legal luminary in Nigeria also declared that trying the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over alleged failure to fully declare his assets is a denigration of the country’s judiciary and the constitution, has warned.

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Source: Legit.ng