The General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to follow due process in the trial of Walter Onnoghen, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Delivering his state of the nation address in Lagos on Sunday, Bakare said Nigeria must become a country where no one, including the President and the CJN, is above the law.
“The Nigeria of our dreams is a land where no one is above the law; where the law applies equally to the rich and the poor; to the president and the petty trader; to the Senator and the janitor; and, I dare say, to the Chief Justice of the Federation and the gateman in a magistrate court.
“It is in this regard that I enjoin every Nigerian to put Nigeria first and approach the current matter involving the highest judicial officer of the land without bias, in the interest of justice and accountability, with the objective of institution building and in the spirit of the New Nigeria.
“Note, in addition, that the prosecutors must themselves operate in accordance with due process, with utmost respect for the independence of the judiciary, and in compliance with constitutional provisions on both substantive and procedural matters, knowing that two wrongs, no matter how seemingly well-intentioned, cannot make a right,” Bakare said.
In his address themed, “The Prophetic Portrait of Nigeria in Her Latter Days,” Bakare called on Nigerians to join in building a new Nigeria.
“Beyond the elections, the Buharis, the Atikus, the Moghalus, the Ezekwesilis, the Durotoyes, the Sowores and the like come together to minimise our weaknesses and maximise our strengths, as one political family, with one agenda – nationhood – we can shape a new nation beyond 2019.
“That is what Team Restructuring is all about and that is the climax of my message on this platform in this final state of the nation broadcast – The CanDo spirit that accompanies Restructuring for a United Nigeria.
“This is a new kind of ‘can-do spirit.’ It is the word ‘can’ with two ‘n’s’: CA-N-N. It is the call to Create A New Nigeria (CANN) and the message is simple: ‘Divided we can’t, together, we CANN’ – Divided, we can’t, together, we Create A New Nigeria,” the cleric added.
