The nation’s number two man has never hidden his resentment for the plot by the leadership of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to secure tenure extension for his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Since he made his opposition known to the third term project, the centre has not held between him and his boss. Atiku spoke at the public presentation of a book, “Judicial integrity, independence and reforms”, written in honour of the retiring Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais.

Calling on Nigerians to demonstrate courage against the agenda, Atiku said; “this is not a time for neutrality or sitting on the fence. You either believe that democracy and the rule of law are good and must be secured or you do not.

“I remember the immortal words of Frantz Fanon that every on-looker is either a coward or a traitor. The price for standing up for the truth and justice may be stiff. “But we cannot really call ourselves leaders and civilised citizens if we do not have the courage to uphold the truth and struggle for what is right. If we allow fear to paralyse us, then we are running away from democracy and freedom. This is not a good option.

“As our current political situation shows, the struggle for democracy and freedom is a long and tortuous one. Those committed to that struggle must prepare for the long haul. And they will continue to require a courageous, independent and impartial judiciary in that struggle.

“The law remains the last hope of the common person in a civilised community. Where the law fails or those who wield power disregard the law, people tend to take the law into their own hands and anarchy tends to reign. We must collectively struggle to prevent that fate from befalling our country. We are too important a people and too important a country to Africa and the world to let that happen. Posterity will never forgive us if we do.

“As everyone here knows, our country is, to say the least, going through very difficult political times. This is largely because of the inability of some of us to appreciate that every modern society, especially complex ones such as ours, has to be rule-driven if they are to survive and thrive.

“Our recent history has been one characterised by brutal military dictatorship, one-man rule and attempts to subvert the will of the people in order to perpetuate dictatorship. Our people collectively fought those attempts successfully, although many paid very dearly for it.”

He commended the retiring Chief Justice for what he called his forthrightness, intellect and clean record, submitting on the need for a justiceable institutions of rule of law.

Reacting, the Chief Justice said the book was a comprehensive commentary on his being, thumbing-up the authors in the process. The 26-chapter book was written by the chief judges of the states and the federation.