Buhari’s Administration Intimidating Judiciary, Galadima Alleges

The spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential Campaign Council, Buba Galadima, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of muzzling the judiciary.

Galadima, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said there were some reported cases of those he described as “friends of this government” who were trying to manipulate cases before the court.

Speaking on the rule of law, he said: “This government is intimidating the judiciary. You have heard in the social and print media of certain friends of this government visiting judges, trying to mold their opinion on the cases before them,” he said.

Galadima, who also spoke on the Electoral Amendment Bill, criticised President Buhari for failing to append his signature despite being passed by the National Assembly weeks to the general election.

He alleged that the refusal to append his signature was a deliberate ploy by the presidency to rig the poll, a situation which Galadima said led to the face-off between the executive and the legislature.

According to him, election observers, the United States, Europe, and Commonwealth, among others knew who won the recently concluded presidential election.

When asked for the way forward, the PDP spokesman said he wanted a separation of powers among the three tiers of government.

He believed that a situation whereby the President has absolute control over the nation’s legislative and judicial arm of government portrayed a dangerous signal for democracy.

“We have the head of a government who believes that he will first accuse you and it will be your duty to prove yourself innocent.

“There is no place, no country in the world where you are accused and you prove yourself innocent. The President has consistently stood on this promise and now that he has the complete judiciary under his armpit and the National Assembly inside the pocket, we Nigerians are in trouble,” he
said.