By Agboola Bayo
Ibadan
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has said that the spate of impeachment of speakers in Nigeria by minority legislators was an affront on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Justice Mohammed stated this in Ibadan while speaking at the 60th anniversary of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ibadan.
Speaking through a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ogwuta Nwali, the Chief Justice of Nigeria maintained that the development was not healthy and ideal for the nation’s growing democracy.
He stressed that such developments could best be described as nothing but an affront on the Constitution which political office holders in the country had sworn to protect in the discharge of their responsibilities.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi in his address pointed out that there was the need for all players on the political scene to abide by the rules of the game in the interest of Nigeria and the generality of the people, with the 2015 elections draw near,
He said: “As a governor sworn to an oath of allegiance to uphold the constitution of our land and as a law-abiding citizen of this country, I bear a responsibility to respect the law and the Constitution, as well as to express my displeasure whenever the law or the Constitution is being violated. This is a duty that every citizen of this country must not shy away from, if we want this democracy to endure and thrive.”
Ajimobi emphasised that the time has come for all organs of government in the country to play their roles within the bounds of law and constitutional principles, saying that there should be no basis for he condemned the use of military personnel in the conduct of elections.
According to Governor Ajimobi, the use military personnel were unknown in the history of democratic governance all over the world and should, therefore, no longer be tolerated in the country.
President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Austin Alege, in his remarks, frowned upon the recent police invasion of the National Assembly and the locking of the members of the House of Representatives, saying that such an act was an unnecessary interference in the activities of the legislative arm of government, even as he condemned the scaling of fence by the federal lawmakers.
