TVC E. The Legal Adviser of Amnesty International, lawyer and AI’s International Secretariat in London, Mr. Kolawole Olaniyan on Thursday declared that it is inappropriate for former President Olusegun Obasanjo to openly criticise Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos as “ignorant and stupid”.
Reacting to the judgment of Idris, Obasanjo reportedly said, “They said the money recovered from Abacha, I should account for it. What stupidity! The man who asked for it, the man who gave the judgement or who answered them are all stupid, with due respect. I don’t keep account, all Abacha loots were sent to Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and every bit of it was reported to Minister of Finance. My job was to write where we can get help to recover the money. Every penny that comes out of it went to CBN, so if they want to know what happened to the money, they should call CBN governor or call the Minister of Finance. But again, it shows ignorance, total ignorance, which is lacking and you wonder, are these people educated? They can also approach the man who helped us in recovering process to give the list of money recovered and where he took it.”
according to reports Olaniyan made his comments via a statement released on Thursday, June 2, 2016,
The statement reads in part:
“If judges have to decide cases on the basis of what politicians or someone else wanted the law or the result to be, the very principle of the independence of the judiciary would be forfeited.
While it’s within Obasanjo’s right to disagree with the judgment or even criticise it, calling Justice Idris “stupid and ignorant” simply for doing his job amounts to inappropriate political criticism as it threatens the judge’s independence and integrity.
Nigerians do not demand infallibility from their leaders and institutions, but it’s difficult to accept the proposition that a judge granting Nigerians the right to know what their leaders and government are doing is “stupid and ignorant.
Nigerians indeed have a right to compel their public officials, particularly the high-ranking among them like Obasanjo, to keep the avenues of information open, so the public can know and evaluate their work, accomplishments and dereliction, regardless of whether they are in or out of office.”
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