The presidency has expressed dissatisfaction with the “attempt to link” President Muhammadu Buhari to the travails of the judges facing charges of corruption.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, said Buhari would be “the last person to authorise anybody to induce a judge to pervert the course of justice”.
He said despite his personal familiarity with some court judges, the president had never sought favours from them.
According to him, all through the 12 years that he challenged the fairness of the presidential election results, Buhari never sought favour from them.
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Shehu also explained that, “as a politician, Buhari had never once ever suggested to his lawyers to approach any judge for assistance to win his cases”.
According to him, the president lives by this principle and has never deviated from it.
On the fate of the judges facing corruption allegations, Shehu said: “The president doesn’t tell courts how to do their jobs and that anybody accused of corruption is protected by law to defend their innocence.”
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He explained that the purpose of the law was to punish the guilty and acquit the innocent, noting that “the law protects the rights of everyone”.
“The president doesn’t have any powers to force any court to convict anybody who is innocent,” he said
He added that in a democratic society, such interference could not happen without resistance by the people.
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