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Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The apex Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), has distanced itself from attack 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, in Ibadan, yesterday, said YCE never discussed the issue of Onnoghen’s suspension at any of its meetings.
He said 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 Onnoghen’s suspension as a national embarrassment.
He said: “The CJN suspension 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 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 respect that decision in conformity with the best global practices.
“Let us sincerely hope 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 matters. 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.”
