Onnoghen: Stay Clear Of Senate – PDP Warns Buhari

BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – Ahead of Senate’s plans to reconvene on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned the Presidency against compromising Senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the on-going corruption saga involving suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

The main opposition party alleged on Sunday that there are plots by some agents of government to induce APC’s Senators in order to protect President Buhari from possible sanctions for alleged constitutional breaches and gross abuse of office.

The PDP maintained that its intelligence network indicated the Presidency’s summons to all APC senators for a meeting at the Presidential Villa was part of the ploy to arm-twist them and curry their support for President Buhari’s unconstitutional moves.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the PDP has been informed of “how the Presidency has been unsettled following national and international outcry over his constitutional breaches, particularly the assault on the judiciary in his attempt to forcefully remove the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen and impose a pliable CJN to do his bidding.”

According to Ologbondiyan’s statement issued in Abuja; “President Buhari is not only apprehensive that the Senate might sanction him for violating the constitution and usurping its statutory duties regarding the handling of issues related to a CJN.

“The parliament might also open an inquest into how President Buhari, who parades as Mr Integrity, allegedly procured an order from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), upon which he announced the illegal suspension of the CJN.

“There are reports that the said order is suspicious and subject to investigation, being not argued or issued in the open court; following which a distressed Presidency now seeks to corrupt and undermine the Senate.

“The PDP has been made aware of how money has been moved from the coffers of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to bribe the APC senators, as well as how each APC senator has been offered huge sums of money in foreign currency to engage in heckling during the session, particularly when the matter is raised.

“However, the PDP wants the APC Senators to note that the issue at hand is not partisan; it is not even about Justice Walter Onnoghen, but about nationhood, as well as the protection of our democracy and constitution from despotism.”