Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari does not need to be aware of all prosecutions that go on in the country.
Mr el-Rufai said this on Thursday in reference to the case of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over non-declaration of assets.
El-Rufai said, as a guest on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, that it is high time Nigerian leaders and people acted reflectively in decision making, rather than operate on ethnic or religious biases.
In the case of Mr Onnoghen, the Kaduna state governor said the position taken by governors of the South-South is disheartening.
“One of the most painful things I have experienced in the last two weeks, was the statement by the governors of the South-South, justifying that non-declaration of assets is nothing, is a non-issue because the Chief Justice of Nigeria is from the South-South,” he said.
The governor argued that “wrong is wrong and right should be right”, and as such, leaders should advise that we can’t do it all the time, sometimes it’s not black and white, it’s a bit of grey, but we must stand for something that is right.”
Reacting to the issue of the president not being aware of the CJN’s case, el-Rufai said Nigerians should be worried if the president keeps records of all cases going on in and around the country.
He said Nigerians must stop personalising institutions, asking, “Why should the president know about the prosecution of anyone?”
El-Rufai said institutions must be allowed to work, arguing that in the case of the CJN the constitution was clear as to the declaration of assets.
