The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has come under fire from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for purported connections to the disgruntled governors who were elected on the PDP platform.
The Chief Justice of the United States (CJN), who was recently in Rivers State for the inauguration of a project overseen by Governor Nyesom Wike, reportedly expressed his happiness that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State was one of the five G-5 aggrieved governors.
However, the Supreme Court’s director of press and information, Dr. Festus Akande, said in a statement he released on Saturday that the media had distorted and misunderstood Justice Olukayode’s words.
However, the PDP claimed that the CJN was trying to recruit people into the G-5 in a statement released on Tuesday by Senator Dino Melaye, the spokesperson for its Presidential Campaign Management Committee.
Dino requested the CJN’s immediate resignation and labeled him a suspect for getting to know the disgruntled governors.
The statement says, in part, “The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who has just shown that he is familiar with the operations of the G5 Governors, has turned himself into a suspect by trying to recruit members into that group, who not only cannot be trusted with the
“With the Chief Justice of Nigeria’s disgraceful behavior, it is both imperative and a matter of honor that he retire from the lofty position which he has clearly misused.”
The statement claimed that the CJN’s participation in partisan politics violated Section 5 of the Nigerian constitution’s Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers.
