National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has told the international community that Nigeria is not a colony and that foreign bodies must apply caution in their interference with political affairs in the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last Friday suspended the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, following a controversial order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) pending the completion of his trial for alleged non-declaration of assets.
Mr Oshiomhole said on Monday night after a meeting between Mr Buhari and APC senators and senatorial candidates in the general elections, that Nigeria is a sovereign nation and will not entertain any external interference in its internal affairs.
“Those are very valuable contributions that we appreciate. But Nigeria is not a colony. We will not accept any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Nigeria.
“When they dismiss judges in Europe…judges have been dismissed in the United States when they are found guilty of corruption and the Western world cannot on the one hand, when it suits them, describe Nigeria as fantastically corrupt and when a corrupt judicial officer is being charged, people want to interfere.
“Now, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has breached the law, if a Chief Justice of the Federation admits that he has several foreign domiciliary accounts, even though he also admits that by nature of his office, he is not trader, what is he doing with accounts in British pounds, US dollars and in Euros and to the extent of forgetting that he has those accounts?
“If he has such memory failure about the size of his number of accounts as to fail to declare them, you and I know that not even ignorance is not an excuse in law. So, why are we being hypocritical?” he said.
