Don’t gag the judiciary, PDP warns Buhari

Don’t gag the judiciary, PDP warns Buhari

Peoples Democrat­ic Party (PDP) has cautioned Presi­dent Muhammadu Bu­hari not to interfere in the operations of the judiciary.

The warning was coming against the backdrop of President Buhari’s statement in Ethiopia, where he picked holes in the op­erations of the judiciary.
Buhari had said he was almost frustrated while pursuing his presidential ambition between 2003 and 2011, adding that the judi­ciary was his headache in his fight against cor­ruption.

Speaking, while inau­gurating the Imo State PDP caretaker com­mittee headed by Hon Vitalis Okafor, the act­ing National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus lamented Buhari’s attack on judi­ciary, urging the body, as the last hope of the common man, to con­tinue to assert its inde­pendence and not al­low itself to be deterred from upholding justice and the rule of law, no matter the pressure.

He said: “The judicial community and in fact, all discerning Nigerians were shocked by the re­lease by the Presidency on Sunday wherein President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted to have described the ju­diciary as the ‘major headache’ of his admin­istration.

“This statement is a direct affront on the statutorily guaranteed independence of the ju­diciary and more wor­risome is the fact that a President of a country had to tie back already settled judgments of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, in cases involving him, as a benchmark of his assessment of the in­stitution of the judiciary at the moment.

“While we express worry at the attacks on the judicial arm of gov­ernment, we are aware that they are intended to blackmail and stampede the judiciary to deliver judgments against the PDP in various pend­ing cases involving our party and some of our leaders in the courts.

“While we urge the judiciary to ensure that it adequately guards its flanks from all external influences, we also cau­tion the executive to focus on governance, while respecting the constitutionally guaran­teed principle of separa­tion of powers by allow­ing the judiciary and the legislature indeed, all statutory arms of gov­ernment to freely oper­ate within the bounds provided by our laws.”

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