Yakubu Maikyau, Nigerian Bar Association president, says AllEyeOnTheJudiciary campaigners are planning to plunge the country into anarchy.

Mr Maikyau accused the ‘AllEyeOnTheJudiciary’ campaigners of setting the country up for anarchy.

“When you make bare allegations, unsubstantiated allegations, you are hurting the very fabric upon which this country I held together,” Mr Maikyau stated in an interview broadcast Sunday night on ARISE TV. “Because once the people do not accept the judiciary, once public confidence in the judiciary is eroded, then you will not have a country in place. You will only have anarchy and chaos.”  

The NBA president added, “You go all out there and make generalised statements about how corrupt they are. If you have evidence, come out and say it. You are even worse than a judicial officer who is practising corruption or who indulges in corrupt practices when you have the evidence, and you refuse to let us know. Because you are destroying the fabric of the system that holds this country together.”

Mr Maikyau declared that the judiciary “has been pauperised” and “has been ill-treated,” yet “they have demonstrated their strength of character.” 

He reiterated his call for all ‘AllEyesOnTheJudiciary’ campaigners accusing the judiciary of corruption to come forward with evidence to weed out bad eggs.

“I’ve said it in different fora; if you have any evidence against any judicial officers, please let us have it,” noted the NBA president. “We will pursue the judicial officers. Of all the judicial officers in this country, how many have been convicted of corruption?” 

Legal tussles ensued following the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission on March 1.

Atiku Abubakar (of PDP) and Peter Obi (of Labour Party) are challenging Mr Tinubu’s victory on the grounds that he failed to win a 25 per cent vote in the Federal Capital Territory and his forfeiture of money linked to cocaine pushing in the United States of America. 

In the run-up to the presidential election petitions tribunal’s verdict on the election, scheduled for September 16, supporters of opposition parties have launched online and offline campaigns tagged ‘AllEyesOnTheJudiciary’, warning the judiciary not to compromise. 

Aside from trending the ‘AllEyesOnTheJudiciary’ on social media, its campaigners erected billboards with the same expression in strategic locations. 

However, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) ordered the immediate removal of the billboards nationwide.