NBA blames Buhari for plotting to intimidate judiciary

The Nigerian Bar Association has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of plotting to intimidate judiciary.
Augustine Alegeh, the president of the organisation, speaking at the valedictory session of one of the judges, said the recent criticism directed at the judiciary over the current anti-corruption war was unwelcome.
He said: “The NBA condemns in its entirety the generalisation and/or categorisation of the judiciary as being corrupt and an impediment to the zero corruption policy of the present administration.”
Alegeh stated that while there were bad eggs in the system, the categorization of the whole judiciary as corrupt was a strong misunderstanding and an effort to restrain the judiciary, which he said would not be accepted.

While the NBA president did not make a reference to President Buhari in his address, it was clear the leader of the country was one of those to which the comment was directed.
He also defined such comments on judicial system as one aimed at discouraging the judiciary.
According to him such intimidation remarks would be resisted.
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohamed, stated that the judiciary was responsibility bound to act in accordance with the dictates of the law, not that made by critics.
“The Nigerian judiciary, though constantly striving to redress the wrongs and tilt the balance in favour of that which is right, has recently had to face the backlash of misguided opinions fashioned without due consideration of the law,” he said.
Buhari is the most eminent Nigerian official to condemn the judiciary in recent times.

While speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 31, the president noted that his biggest headache in the current fight against corruption in Nigeria remained the actions and inactions of the judiciary.
But at the event in Abuja Wednesday, the NBA President, Mr. Alegeh, said such generations and categorisations of the judiciary as being an obstacle to the anti-corruption crusade was aimed at intimidating the judiciary.