Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has denied condemning the recent suspension of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen.
Mrs Buhari in a statement through her Director, Information, Suleiman Haruna, on Sunday in Abuja, described the news making rounds that she condemned Mr Onnoghen’s removal as fake.
“The attention of wife of the President has been drawn to a post on social media to the effect that she condemned the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
“It is important to inform Nigerians that wife of the President has not made any public statements on the matter and therefore the commentary is untrue and fake.
“This is highly condemnable and we therefore advise the purveyors of such news to recant and desist henceforth,” the statement added.
The former CJN was suspended by the Federal Government following a recommendation of the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The suspension order was executed to enable the tribunal to hear and determine the allegations of false asset declarations filed against Onnoghen by the Code of Conduct Bureau.
Meanwhile, Justice Walter Onnoghenc has debunked the rumour gaining traction online that he has resigned.
In a terse statement issued on Monday by his media aide, Awassam Bassey, the CJN described his resignation as “fake news circulated by mischief makers.”
“Mischief makers are still circulating this fake news. Once again, no truth in it whatsoever. The Hon CJN, Hon Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, GCON, has not resigned,” Bassey said.
The embattled CJN has been replaced by President Buhari with the next most senior Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Mohammed, as Acting CJN.
The resignation rumour came less than 24 hours to the emergency meeting summoned by the National Judicial Council to deliberate on Onnoghen’s suspension and Muhammad’s emergence as the Acting CJN.
The Buhari administration has since Friday, come under scathing and widespread criticism locally and from the international community for being ill-timed, coming in the eve of the imminent general elections.
