By RFIPalled on 25-01-2019Modified on 25-01-2019 at 21:20
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday (January 25th) suspended President of the Supreme Court Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen. The latter is prosecuted for corruption. But the opposition denounces a political gesture less than a month from the next presidential elections in which Buhari is standing for a new term.
According to a spokesman for the presidency, the head of state suspended Samuel Onnoghen on the order of the Court of the Code of Conduct, a court created specifically to judge ethical issues and where Onnoghen is prosecuted for not having declared several bank accounts in foreign currency.
But the opposition considers this suspension politic. And accuses the head of state of conducting a witch hunt against his opponents in the name of the fight against corruption.
Onnoghen is notoriously critical of the current power and he would be embarrassing at the head of the Supreme Court, which has the last word to settle possible disputes in the next election.
The opposition added that, according to the Constitution, the president can dismiss the highest magistrate only with the approval of 2/3 of the Senate. In which case the magistrate was not dismissed, but suspended.
In any case, a suspension that makes some political observers say that the ruling party is in the process of panicking about the upcoming elections scheduled for 16 February.
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