A rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) has commended Punch Newspapers for its resolve to start addressing President Muhammadu Buhari as a Major General.
Punch had announced this in its editorial on Wednesday as a sign of protest for the president’s defiance to rule of law in Nigeria.
Intersociety in a press statement made available to DAILY POST in Awka, said the stated was commendable, and has also reinforced its own earlier resolve not to address serving Justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in Nigeria as “Their Lordships”.
The statement signed by its Board of Trustees chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi read, “The step taken by the Editorial Board and Management of Punch has reinforced similar bold step recently taken by Intersociety.
“Recall that Intersociety had on 19th Nov 2019 resolved not to address the serving Justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in Nigeria as “Their Lordships” or singly as “His Lordship”, or have “Honorable(s)” added to them as in “Honorable” Justice.
“The action was taken by Intersociety to protest their conspiratorial roles in legitimizing the ‘armada of electoral fraud’, called “the 2019 Presidential Election in Nigeria”.
“We commend The Punch for this bold step, they have done very well this time. The Newspaper has triumphantly returned to the trench.
“History has also not forgotten the Newspaper and others concerning the priceless roles and sacrifices they made during the country’s military dark eras. From their trenches, joined by others, the military was catapulted back to the Barracks where it remained until the second coming of Buhari.”
The group said the next step that must be taken is to strip governors and their deputies of the lofty title of ‘their excellencies’ as they have done nothing excellent to deserve the title.
