THE Enugu State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has lauded President Muhammed Buhari for raising the bar of anti-graft war, describing the recent arrests of judges for alleged corruption as a welcome development.
In a statement issued on Monday by the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mrs. Kate Ofor, said prior to the clamp down, Judges were regarded as untouchable.
The State APC image maker said, “A Daniel has come to judgement, well done Mr President for touching the untouchables. The judges thought they are untouchables, and above the law. These are judges, who are supposed to protect the law, defend our hard earned democracy and cleanse the Augean Stable, who regrettably are the ones subverting the law and mangling the War Against Corruption.”
On the fear of return of dictatorship and why President Buhari did not allow the National Judicial Council to discharge its mandate, Mrs Ofor said, “Dictatorship is actually enthroned when the rule of law is trampled upon by those who are the custodians of the temple of Justice.
“Are we not witnesses of how the National Judicial Council (NJC) whose mandate is to regulate, sanction erring judges and cleanse the temple of Justice, treat arrant judges with kid gloves? We cannot forget how some judges who were found guilty of collecting bribes were more or less pampered with retirement, instead of prosecution. And how two Senior Advocates of Nigeria are being tried for offering bribes without their accomplice judges”
“Give me a break, instead of commending Mr President for raising the bar of war against corruption, and recovering huge sums of money from rogue judges; ignoble men are taking refuge under the sanctity of the judicial arm of government and the doctrine of separation of powers. It’s the dishonest judges and their lawyer accomplices who are desecrating the sanctity of the judiciary”
“The War Against Corruption is by this singular sting operation revived, as there is no sacred cow, when Justices of the Supreme Court are among the culprits. Let’s join Mr President in expanding the frontiers of anti-graft war and sanitising the polity. It is a moral and legitimate duty”, she concluded.