By Kolawole Ojebisi
Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark has commended the decision of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, to revisit what he called the controversial removal of Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
Clark expressed his commendation in a letter written to Keke-Ekun and made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday.
Clark, a former minister of Information in the mid 1970s, who is the national leader of the Ijaw and Second Republic Senator representing Warri in present day Delta State described Onnoghen’s removal as as a gross injustice and a blot on Nigeria’s democratic record.
He commended Justice Kekere-Ekun’s commitment to what he described as cleaning up the judiciary, emphasising the importance of an efficient and incorruptible judicial system.
“Without an efficient and incorruptible judiciary, Nigeria will end up as a failed country,” he wrote.
While expressing his views about what led to Onnoghen’s removal, the foremost South-South leader described the development as “an orchestrated humiliation carried out by Buhari and his then-Attorney General, Abubakar Malami.”
He characterised the suspension of Onnoghen and the subsequent appointment of Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed as Acting CJN as “callous, unjust, and barbaric.”
The elder statesman argued that Onnoghen was unfairly targeted to “ensure the judiciary aligned with Buhari’s political ambitions, particularly during the 2019 presidential election.”
He called for accountability, urging the administration of President Bola Tinubu to ensure that no individual or officeholder is above the law.
“Sacred cows must not exist in Nigeria, no matter whose ox is gored,” Clark asserted.
He criticised what he described as the tendency of former presidents to avoid scrutiny despite allegations of corruption, noting, “Today in Nigeria, we have corrupt presidents accusing their successors of corruption without reflecting on their own actions in office.”
Clark also highlighted the irony in Onnoghen’s case, recalling how the former CJN had been part of the Supreme Court panel whose ruling favoured Buhari in the 2011 presidential election dispute.
Clark made a broader call for reform and justice, urging the judiciary and the Tinubu administration to address past injustices to help strengthen democracy and the rule of law.
