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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
, 8 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
Despite manifest incongruities in the official story-line concerning @MBuhari's decision to remove the Chief Justice of Nigeria in Jan 2019, I was willing to suspend my disbelief & wait for govt to present evidence to support its claims of asset malfeasance in the #OonoghenTrial
When it launched its fevered campaign against the Chief Justice before the #OnnoghenTrial in the month before #NigeriaDecides2019, the govt claimed thro its hired hands that he had money running into Billions in multiple bank accounts & over 55 houses
premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines…
Hired amplifiers were procured to skewer a man who could not defend himself. In the media, he was a thief, a rogue & much worse. Digital lynch mobs, many of them amplifier bots with transparent ends to serve created a mood music with a life of its own
#OnnoghenTrial
Given the opportunity to back up its claims, the govt's case at the #OnnoghenTrial has turned out to be a despicable, venal fantasy. There were no billions, no 55 houses, no fantasy FOREX in make-believe domicillary accounts. A govt decided to make up lies against an innocent man
By way of a useful comparison based evidence from the #OnnoghenTrial, Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen, who has spent a lifetime in private legal practice & judicial public service, is much poorer than Yusuf @MBuhari who has just been "awarded" his #NYSC discharge certificate.
If the #OnnoghenTrial showed that the Chief Justice had anything like the assets the govt originally claimed, he'd surely have had a case to answer. Now it's clear that was all made up, the govt has a burden to investigate & explain how it chose to mislead #Nigerians & the world
In the end, it's difficult for the @MBuhari govt to escape the perception that it conspired to orchestrate #OnnoghenTrial because of personal animus towards the man related to his origins & to factors that had nothing to do with his performance on his job. Govts shd not do that.
The damage done by the @Mbuhari administration in the manner that it procured the #OnnoghenTrial will take more than a generation to address. This is more than about 1 man & his fate. If a govt can conspire to pervert institutions as it has done in this case, no one is safe!
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More from @ChidiOdinkalu see all

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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
2mrw, we'll have another episode of #NigeriaDecides. It'll be of huge significance for the credibility of international election observation. In many ways It's the 1st major test for Int'l #ElectionObservers since the fiasco of #KenyaDecides2017
#DomesticObservers will also be deployed all over the country for #NigeriaDecides. There are 119,973 Polling Units (PUs). Observers will not be in all the PUs. The goal, however, is to cover all 8,809 wards in the country. Tens of thousands of Observers will be involved in this.
One major reason for the inability to deploy #ElectionObservers all over the country is security. In parts of some states, including Borno (NE), Rivers (SS) & Zamfara (NW), it is impossible to guarantee the safety & security of both election officials & #ElectionObservers.
Read 10 tweets
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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
The gist of the story & clear intent to work to pre-determined outcome in the CJN #Onnoghen matter is buried in dates. The petition against CJN Onnoghen was dated 7 January. It was actually stamped into the office of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on 9 January
On the same day, 9 Jan, according to the ex-parte order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), which only became public yesterday, after the purported suspension of CJN #Onnoghen, the @Buhari administration filed a petition with the CCT for his removal
It's quite clear that there was no time between the receipt of the petition by the CCB & the referral to the CCT. Under the law, the obligation to verify claims made in asset declaration forms belongs exclusively to the CCB. This cld not have bn done before charges were filed.
Read 6 tweets
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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
Through his latest entry into the #NigeriaDecides2019 conversation, President Obasanjo helps to clarify issues that shd control the decision making of voters in the ballot. For him the question is the issue of #Nigeria's continuing coexistence.
punchng.com/if-we-expose-t…
In #NigeriaDecides2019, ppl will have to decide what issues matter most to them. Votes, outcomes & possibly the fate of a generation if not of a country will hang on these decisions. The defining issues are clear and all very important.
One issue clearly will be security or insecurity. It was a major issue in 2015. It remains so in 2019. For many #Nigerians, the question is: are you more secure today than you were 4 yrs ago & which of the candidates can make a better job of fighting insecurity
Read 8 tweets

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Chxta
@Chxta
The timing of Nnamdi Kanu's reappearance from the land of the dead, and his call for an election boycott, is decidedly convenient.

So we have to ask, is he partnering the Buhari FG? bit.ly/2MPYApI
On 12 October, 2018, Atiku Abubakar, picked Peter Obi, to be his running mate in the 2019 general elections.

Exactly a week after Peter Obi was picked, the infamous separatist, Nnamdi Kanu, resurfaced, having been missing for over a year up to that point.
Not long after, Kanu returned to his mic, to resume what made him infamous in the first place - spilling a lot of bile.

His most recent exercise was to schedule a "referendum on Biafra" same day as the Presidential Elections, and that, is where the cat waltzed out of the bag.
Read 15 tweets
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Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN
@oagbakoba
President Muhammadu Buhari`s suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen is the most brazen assault on Nigeria`s constitutional history.

Thread
The President has obviously not listened to the advice of the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation or the Attorney General of the Federation has misadvised him or both.
President Buhari claims that the suspension of the Chief Justice Onnoghen is pending the determination of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT. This is simply not true. The CCT itself adjourned proceedings in respect of Justice #Onnoghen `s matter.
Read 10 tweets
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CDD West Africa
@CDDWestAfrica
The #Onnoghen Affair: Finding a Way Forward

Press Release, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja, 27th January 2019

#OnnoghenSuspension
#OnnoghenGate

THREAD!
On Friday, @NGRPresident suspended d CJN, Walter Onnoghen putting #Nigeria on the path to constitutional crisis especially cos he immediately swore in Justice Tanko Muhammad as his interim replacement without allowing the NJC & other arms of govt play their constitutional roles.
The @NGRPresident is aware that he has no such powers, so he justified his action by claiming he was obeying a directive from the Code of Conduct Tribunal, before which Mr Onnoghen is standing trial.

#OnnoghenSuspension
Read 17 tweets
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Demola Olarewaju
@DemolaRewaju
I woke up this morning feeling the same way on the purported suspension of the CJN and his illegal replacement from a political view:

#TyrantBuhari has dropped all pretence to Democracy and the world now sees him as he truly is.

But for history, let me attempt to analyse it.
First, let’s make it unequivocally clear: Mr. President has no power to remove the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the attempt to do so is a coup against the Constitution, against Democracy and against the People of Nigeria.

It is however in line with the character of #TyrantBuhari
Important to note that in carrying out his illegal action which will not stand the test of time, #TyrantBuhari relied not on the constitutional but a twisted morality from the angle of a biased anti-corruption drive.

It’s an attempt to stand on nothing and therefore, a fiasco.
Read 38 tweets
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Kayode Ogundamisi
@ogundamisi
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Onnoghen is now compromised, if head of judiciary in his own words forgot to obey the law, timing of prosecution may not be politically correct but he now has a moral burden, the embarrassment is a tragedy, no one will win, not PDP not APC not Nigeria.
A lesson for all concerned, all the political gladiators in Nigeria. When @AsiwajuTinubu was hauled before the code of conduct by the @GEJonathan govt I criticised the South West governors for making a jamboree of the trial by storming the court in Abuja. I called it a mockery.
5 South South Governors are now dancing naked with the case of Chief Justice of Nigeria, Onnoghen the way the South West Governors danced with the @AsiwajuTinubu trial, even in the darkest of moments, leaders should learn to put our institutions first and politics second.
Read 12 tweets
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TheCable
@thecableng
Dear President @MBuhari, I hope this meets you well. I don’t know if you remember me. My name is Simon. @simonkolawole. Never mind. We will come to that later. Let us briefly journey into history for proper context into why I have chosen to openly write you this morning.
In February 2001, I finally met you. I had been appointed the editor of TheWeek, I was looking for a great interview. You came to mind, I met you at your house in Jabi, Kaduna, and we had a very good interview. Remember me now? You said something that reinforced my belief in you.
You said what #Nigeria lacked was leadership. You promised to provide that leadership. I became a self-appointed volunteer and started fighting your cause in the media. You were not the darling of the so-called Lagos-Ibadan press, but I never make my decisions based on the crowd.
Read 18 tweets

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