The Presidency has warned journalists and other Nigerians to stop linking President Muhammadu Buhari with the travails of some judges arrested in the country recently.
The warning came on a day Vice President Yemi Osinbajo re-emphasized the need for the emergence of a new crop of Nigerian elites to fight corruption, with a view to building a new nation. In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said: “President Muhammadu Buhari would be the last person to authorize anybody to induce a judge to pervert the course of justice.
“Despite his familiarity with some judges, the President had never asked them for favours; Since 2003, 2007 and 2011, when he was challenging the fairness of the presidential election results, from the lowest to the highest courts in the land. “As a politician, Buhari had never suggested to his lawyers to approach any judge for assistance to win his cases. The President lives by this principle and has never deviated from it.”
On the fate of the judges facing corruption allegations, Shehu said the “President doesn’t tell courts how to do their jobs and that anybody accused of corruption is protected by law and is able to defend his innocence. “The President doesn’t have any powers to force any court to convict anybody who is innocent.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has re-emphasized the need for the emergence of a new crop of Nigerians to come together to build the nation. He said that men and women with new mindset were crucial to win the fight against corruption.
Speaking at a gala organised by the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN in Houston, USA, weekend, the Vice President said: “Even in the midst of all the country is going through, there is a growing consensus by all and sundry on the need for good governance.
“This is why the President and myself have made a call that we need a new tribe of Nigerians. We do need a new tribe of men and women of all faiths, tribes and ethnicity, who are committed to a country run on high values of integrity, hard-work, justice and love for the country. “I mean a tribe of men and women prepared to make the sacrifices and self-constraints crucial to building a strong society; who are prepared to stick together, fight corruption side by side, and insist on justice.”
Osinbajo also stated that the current administration took diaspora issue very seriously, adding that this prompted the President to appoint a former member of House of Representative, Mrs. Abike Dabiri, as Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora.
He also underscore the importance of the proposal for a Diaspora Commission, and a diaspora bond worth N1 trillion for investment purpose by both Nigerians at home and abroad.
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