PRESS RELEASE

PDP's Suspension of Campaign Over Onnoghen, Face-saving Measure - Minister

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
described as a face-saving measure the decision by the PDP to pull the
brakes on its electioneering campaign over Justice Walter Onnoghen's
suspension, saying the PDP's campaign never gained traction in the
first instance.

Responding to reporters’ question in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital,
on Saturday, on the suspension of the PDP's campaign, the Minister
said: ''Which Campaign? Their campaign was over a long time ago. There
is nothing to suspend. We said it that their campaign had floundered.
You can now see. What they are doing now is looking for a face-saving
way out of a dead and buried campaign.''

He wondered why the PDP is crying more than the bereaved, and asked
the opposition party whether Justice Onnoghen is one of its members.

“And in any event, let’s ask them this question: Is there something
that they know that we don’t know? Is there something between them and
the suspended CJN? Otherwise, we did not see why they should suspend
their campaign anyway, but I can understand that their campaign was
bound to end this way,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said while Nigerians have been trooping out in large numbers
wherever the President’s campaign ship berths, the PDP supporters have
been dwindling by the day.

On the outcry by some people and organizations over Justice Onnoghen's
suspension, the Minister said it’s troubling that those who are crying
foul over the suspension of the CJN have actually ignored the fact
that a serving Chief Justice not only amassed millions of dollars in
his account, but admitted that he forgot to declare same in his Assets
Declaration Form.

“For anybody who read Mr. President’s address yesterday, two things
stood out. The first is that additional evidence has just been
revealed that the suspended CJN refused to declare millions of dollars
in his possession. More worrisome is the fact that when the suspended
CJN was confronted with the petition that he failed to declare his
assets, he added that it was a mistake, that he forgot.

“Now, I would have been a happier person if the same people who are
now crying tyranny and dictatorship could really address the issue raised
by the President, in his address on Friday, that addition investigations have
revealed that several millions of dollars were found in the CJN's account.
And when the CJN was confronted with the original allegation, he
admitted that he forgot to make full declaration, and that it was a mistake,''
he said.

On the constitutionality of the CJN's suspension, he faulted those
claiming that the President acted outside of the Constitution, adding
that in suspending Justice Onnoghen, the President merely carried out
an order of a court of competent jurisdiction directing him to suspend
the Chief Justice pending the final determination of the cases against
him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal


Segun Adeyemi
SA To Hon Minister of Information and Culture
Ilorin
26Jan2019