Due to the fact that the Federal Government under the current Administration has ensured non-inference with institutions in the performances of their duties, President Muhammadu did not know about the trial of Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Samuel Onnoghen before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), until Saturday evening.
This was the statement by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo which he made at a one day conference organized by the Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN) with the theme: “Free Press and Objective Reporting in the 2019 Election Year”, held on Wednesday in Abuja.
The vice president explained that President Buhari never knew of any financial misdemeanor involving the CJN until Saturday evening.
He said it was highly regrettable that his senior colleague, the CJN, has to go through this process, but added that Buhari had issued specific instructions that anti-graft institutions be allowed to do their job without any interference.
He stated: “I must tell you in clear terms that President Muhammadu Buhari, his whole approach is that institutions should just do their work. I can tell you for a fact that he did not even know about this until Saturday evening.
“He did not even know that there was going to be any kind of trial until Saturday evening. He has said categorically ‘don’t interfere with whatever institutions are doing’. Sometimes it has consequences such as we have today, such that people say how can such an important person be subjected to trial without the federal government knowing, but I can tell you without any equivocation that he is not aware.”
