The chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has declared that Nigeria is a sovereign nation, unbound by any foreign powers.
This was a reaction to the reservations of the USA, UK and EU over the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.
The foreign powers claimed that the timing of the suspension was suspicious and might not be unconnected with the upcoming elections.
Oshiomhole warned that Nigeria is no longer a colony and is, therefore, isn’t obligated to follow whatever the foreign powers say.
“The thing is that Nigeria is not a colony. I think we all have to be careful. We must defend the sovereignty of our country. We welcome collaboration, we welcome peer review, we can compare notes, we welcome people who are interested in sharing experiences with us whenever the need arises, whether it is capacity building, making useful suggestions on how we can continue to improve on our electoral process.
“Those are very valuable contributions that we appreciate. But Nigeria is not a colony. We will not accept any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nigeria.
“When they dismiss judges in Europe…judges have been dismissed in the United States when they are found guilty of corruption, the Western world cannot on the one hand when it suits them, describe Nigeria as fantastically corrupt and when a corrupt judicial officer is being charged, people want to interfere.
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“What anybody can insist on is anybody being framed? Is the suspended CJN guilty of the allegations made against him? Or is it something being cooked out from nowhere?”
Oshiomhole also said that the CJN has also admitted that he is in the wrong.
“Now, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has breached the law, if a CJN admits that he has several foreign domiciliary accounts, even though he also admits that by nature of his office, he is not a trader, what is he doing with accounts in British Pounds, US Dollars and in Euros and to the extent of forgetting that he has those accounts?
“If he has such memory failure about the size of his number of accounts as to fail to declare them, you and I know that not even ignorance is an excuse in law. So, where are we being hypocritical?
“And at a certain level of responsibility, it’s not even about legal technicalities. It’s about the moral weight, the moral burden you carry.
“So, nobody should make us feel as though we are at the mercy of any other country.
“The future of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians and our laws are clear. Our laws are meant to be obeyed.”