Onnoghen: ‘Ensure diligent prosecution, not persecution’

The Chancellor of the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights (ISSJHR), Dr. Omenazu Jackson, has called for diligent prosecution and not persecution of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

He stated this on Monday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, while addressing a news conference.

Jackson said: “The judiciary is the only compass guiding our footsteps towards a peaceful and orderly society, disparaging it on the altar of politics is to our doom, but the officers in the temple of justice must stand on high moral pedestal to safeguard the sanctity of the exalted offices they occupy.

“If the officers in the temple of justice fail, the society returns to stone age and the sanctity of the judiciary will be lost and nature exhibits its folly on us all.

“Members of the political class, who are bent on truncating our democratic process through unwarranted and unguarded attacks on institutions of governance, we plead with them to be patriotic in their undertakings, as politics without morality is criminality amplified.”

Chancellor of ISSJHR also called for urgent convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), having seen the lacunas contained in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, which he said had given rise to the current constitutional crises rocking the Nigerian state.

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He noted that the rift involving the executive, legislature and judiciary was as a result of a constitution that lacked all the ingredients of a people’s constitutional mandate, wherein their allegiance was expected to anchor.

Jackson called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that all litigation arising from primaries of political parties was sorted out in the various courts, before the February 16 and March 2 general elections.

He noted that allowing the litigation to run the full course became absolutely necessary to enable the political parties concerned to explore all avenues of legal windows to exercise their democratic rights, without resorting to unnecessary self-help that was capable of heating up the polity.

The chancellor said: “We encourage INEC to postpone elections in any state of the federation, where legal issues arising from party primaries or issues of eligibility of candidates are settled close to election dates. This will allow room for proper preparation, so as to ensure that the elections are free, credible and transparent.

“The spice in the menu of democracy is lost, if any citizen is denied his/her democratic rights. Judges in courts where the election-related matters are domiciled must expedite action, since justice delayed is justice denied.”

Jackson also condemned, in its entirety, the threats of violence coming from highly-politically-exposed persons in Nigeria against INEC and members of the public, if the elections were postponed in some parts of the country, asking officials of the commission to stand firm and remain resolute.