Former National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timi Frank, on Monday claimed that the “presidency has been finally caught” in what he described as “Freudian slip”, following the revelations by the Personal Assistant to the President on Social Media Lauretta Onochie and the President’s campaign spokesman, Festus Keyamo, regarding their principal and the former Chief Justice of the Federation, CJN, Walter Onnoghen.
Frank said that unconsciously, the statement credited to Onochie that the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, had a plan to annul the February 23, 2019, Presidential election and hand over a default victory to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, “is an admission and a corroboration of what we have always known: That the persecution of Justice Walter Onnoghen was politically motivated and was not done in good faith, but was an attack on an innocent man by the Buhari administration in its plan to thwart the will of the Nigerian people.”
While reacting to both Kayamo and Onochie’s statements, Frank recalled that on Monday, April 15, 2019, that the former had said, “The Atiku’s plan was for Justice Onnoghen to annul the results of 17 major states won by President Buhari, thereby giving victory to you guessed who, yes, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. But Justice Onnoghen confessed to crimes against our nation.”
In a statement forwarded to DAILY POST, Frank further said that the above statement was, “prima facie evidence that the Buhari government never planned to hold credible elections and that they are using the state to sponsor an attack on the judiciary in order to cow the learned justices into giving a judgment favourable to President Buhari.
“Nigerians may recall that the petition used to suspend Justice Onnoghen was written by one Dennis Aghanya, who is a former spokesman to President Buhari and is presently one of his confidantes. Nigerians may further recall that the Code of Conduct Bureau received the petition on Saturday, January 12, 2019, which is normally a day that the judiciary does not function.
“It would further be recalled that the Code of Conduct Bureau acted on the matter on Monday, January 14, 2019 and that never in the history of the Code of Conduct Bureau has a petition been given such breathtaking accelerated speed to the extent that the Code of Conduct Tribunal admitted that it had not finished investigating the case before it charged Justice Onnoghen before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”
While calling on the international community to quickly intervene, Frank said: “Mr Dennis Aghanya’s and Miss Onochie’s actions are enough evidence for the international community to intervene on the side of the Nigerian people and the judiciary lest the brinksmanship of the Buhari administration leads the nation to the precipice.
“Already, the desperation of this government has seen them advance a ridiculous defence to the petition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the Election Petition Tribunal, to the effect that Atiku Abubakar is not a Nigerian and that President Buhari does not need a West African Examinations Certificate (school leaving certificate) to contest for the Presidency. Yet, this same All Progressive Congress is challenging the competency of Senator Ademola Adeleke of Osun State on the grounds that he has no WAEC certificate.”
Timi Frank also urged Nigerians and the international community to come to the aid of the judiciary “before they are completely emasculated by this dishonourable and desperate administration.”
