By John Iwori
The Archbishop of Christ Missionaries Crusaders, Arch-Bishop God-Dowell Avwomakpa has called on the Acting President, Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo, SAN to forward the name of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation.
Apart from being the Acting President, the cleric stated that Osinbajo as a professor of law should not hesitate to do the needful by forwarding the name of the acting CJN to the upper chamber of the National Assembly for confirmation.
The cleric who expressed confidence in the judiciary noted that it remained the last hope of the common man, even as he also noted that the National Judicial Council (NJC) had recommended the Acting CJN to President Buhari for almost two months as the most senior Justice in the country.
Avwomakpa who is the Chairman of CAN, South-South Zone and also the Chairman of Niger Delta Bishops commended the “silent reforms” introduced by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria aimed at quick dispensation of Justice in the country.
He noted that the country was in dire need of such a man and his reforms in order to ensure better and faster dispensation of cases.
He argued that it was imperative for the Acting President to forward the name of Justice Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation instead of allowing him to retire in acting capacity after three months, a development which Avwomakpa said would not go down well in the history of the nation’s judiciary.
He noted that if nobody was bold to tell President Buhari and the Vice President who was now Acting President the truth, he would tell them and leave them to face God after they leave office.
He equally lashed out at those making the Presidency to appear as if it was one sided in its appointments and said Nigeria’s constitution recognised federal character, yet in most of the top appointments of heads of federal government agencies and institutions including the military, Police, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and so on were being headed by people from a certain region of the country a development.
According to him, the lopsided appointments do not promote national co-existence, peace and unity but rather promotes sentiments, divisions and animosity amongst the citizens. Describing Osinbajo as a legal icon and a man full of intellectual prowess, he called on him to put pressure on those responsible for the imbalance to think of the harm such seed of imbalance and lopsided appointments was sowing in the polity
“I will never stop praying for Nigeria and her leaders. In the same vein, if we as God’s voice on earth see anything wrong we should say it without fear”, he said.
He noted that people were living in fear and there were more hunger and sufferings in the land despite the efforts of this administration to tame the economic, religious and political quagmire that the country found itself.
According to him, the Acting President should be bold to take decisions that would better the country and the citizens. One of such bold decisions was to forward the Acting Justice’s name to the Senate for confirmation alongside confronting the nation’s economic, political and religious woes.
He also enjoined officials of the DSS to stop going after men of God who preach hard messages. He described recent attempt to arrest Apostle John Suleman by DSS official as bad omen and noted that if the DSS tried to gag Christian leaders, the Christian leaders and their followers across the country would go on a peaceful protest to register their displeasure to the government