Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), has distanced itself from attacks on the Federal Government over the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.
President of the council, Col. Samuel Agbede (retd), in a statement he made available to journalists in Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday, said YCE never discussed the issue of Onnoghen’s suspension at any of its meetings.
He explained that people should not wrongly take personal opinion expressed by the secretary-general of the council, Dr. Kunle Olajide, to mean the corporate opinion of YCE, also known as Igbimo Agba Yoruba.
Olajide had last weekend, in an interview, described the suspension of Onnoghen as a national embarrassment, saying: ‘The suspension of the CJN is very disturbing. One would have expected Mr. President to tread cautiously. We are dealing with the head of the third arm of government and all necessary precautions should have been taken to ensure that no room is left for any mischief or suspicion.
“But the haste at which the suspension was announced was very frightening. There is a pending Court of Appeal decision that the Code of Conduct Tribunal should halt all processes on this matter. One would have expected the Federal Government to have respected that decision in conformity with the best global practices.
“Let us sincerely hope that the action will not cause a chain of reactions that might be a national embarrassment. So, going ahead to arrest him will of course, escalate matter. I don’t want to believe he will be arrested because the consequences of doing that will be very unpredictable, especially when this is coming at the election season.”
But Agbede said: “YCE did not authorise anybody to issue such statement. YCE believes in the rule of law and will never knock or confront the Federal Government over issues of law, details of which are not made known to it.
“We had our own problem with former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who honourably resigned when she realised that the issues raised were not properly addressed.
“YCE cannot and will not throw its weight behind Justice Onnoghen, who for some unknown reasons, forgot to do the needful and will not get involved or comment further on it.
“Nobody will speak for YCE without permission of the president or in consultation with him. The spokesman for YCE shall be the officer – public relations officer, duly authorised to do such functions.”