Nigeria’s judiciary now ‘cash and carry’, says Atiku

 

By our Correspondent

 

As Nigerians are yet to overcome their bewilderment over the conflict in the verbal pronouncement and the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement of the appellate court in the Kano Governorship Election Petition delivered last week, the former Vice President and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has said that the Nigeria’s democracy is experiencing ill health under the rule of the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that the ruling party has turned the once respected Nigerian judiciary to a “cash and carry institution.”

This came as Chidi Odinkalu, a distinguished human rights law practitioner and Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School, has ignited concern over the recent developments in the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. The justices involved, namely Justice Abraham Adumein Moore Aseimo, Justice Gyarazama  Sangabitru, and Justice Ganiyu Lateef Adebayo, have become central figures in a brewing controversy.

Prof. Chidi Odinkalu highlighted that while the appellate court panel led by Justice Abraham Aseimo had verbally upheld the tribunal judgement sacking Governor Abba Yusuf last week, the certified true copy (CTC) of the ruling revealed the judges had actually set aside the lower court order.

Odinkalu took to Twitter to express his discontent, raising the alarming possibility of judicial corruption. He asserted, “I am hearing this evening that the court has been asking the lawyers to return the judgment for ‘correction.’ But this does not fall within the ambit of the #SlipRule.

Similarly, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25, 2023 general elections, Mr. Peter Obi, has challenged Nigerians not to be silent but to voice out and ask questions about why Nigerian courts are turning into courts of favor and procurement rather than courts of justice and law.

APC trying to use courts to get states it couldn’t win in election

The former, Vice President, Atiku Abubakar while reiterated his concern that democracy in Nigeria is in a state of ill-health, said the courts are trying to deliver states controlled by the opposition to the ruling party through controversial declarations.

Atiku in a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, said opposition engagement is being narrowed “either through the electoral process where opposition parties are rigged out with brazen impunity, or during the post election court.”

He added, “It gets more curious that all the states where the courts have made controversial declarations are states being controlled by the opposition political parties. From Nassarawa, Kano, Zamfara and now to Plateau State, where we are witnessing a situation in which what the ruling party missed out on Election Day are being delivered to them through the courts.

“These are clearly ominous signs that threaten not just our faith in the electoral and judicial system but evincing that our democracy is compromised. It is also crystal clear that the ruling party will not desist from this inglorious ideology of ‘snatch, grab and run away with power.’

“It is even more worrisome that what is playing out now in the Plateau governorship election petition is a confirmation of the threat echoed by an APC lawmaker in a viral video that the ruling party will compromise the judicial process to ensure its ultimate victory in the courts.

“It, therefore, means that the times we are in are indeed ominous, and the journey ahead in rescuing our democracy from these buccaneering power grabbers is a long one. It also means that every man and woman of good conscience should come together for this common patriotic purpose.”

Atiku however said he is surprised by what is going on, noting that in Lagos State where President Bola Tinubu “holds sway as godfather, opposition became an anathema. Everyone, including judges, was forced to join his party.”

He recalled that few opposition members who managed to get elected were beaten to submission, including at the Lagos State House of Assembly where the sole PDP member back in 2018 was suspended and arrested for gun running but mysteriously had the charges dropped immediately after he defected to the APC.

“Recently, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) withdrew a N135 billion lawsuit it had instituted against an opposition senator from Anambra State less than 24 hours after he defected to the ruling party.

These are the crude methods that Bola Tinubu has employed in order to reduce the ranks of the opposition and consolidate his hold on power.

“Is it not mysterious that it was the same panel that sat and heard all the election petition cases from Plateau State before the Court of Appeal? How is it that in election cases where the PDP came first and the APC came second, the court ordered that the APC be declared winner while in elections where the PDP came first and Labour Party came second, the courts ordered a rerun in order to give the APC a chance of victory?

“As Justice Dattijo Muhammad said in his valedictory speech which has also been buttressed by Olumide Akpata, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association, the judgments emanating from courts in recent times have been questionable and show obvious compromise.

“As Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) put it recently, the judiciary under military dictatorship was much more courageous and had better integrity than what we have today.

“It is obvious that the APC has turned the once respected Nigerian judiciary to a “cash and carry” one where politicians who don’t participate in primaries are named as candidates while actual winners of elections are sacked for flimsy reasons. They simply deliver judgments but not justice.

“Apart from the judiciary, Tinubu has already appointed his loyalists as Resident Electoral Commissioners who have now been confirmed by Sen. Godswill Akpabio, who is supposed to be heading an independent arm of government. This is how the APC plans to impose a one-party state on Nigerians.

“Eternal vigilance remains the watch word if Nigeria’s democracy will survive the APC onslaught on our democracy and the institutions that are supposed to check the excesses of the ruling party.”

Peter Obi tasks Nigerians to speak out

Peter Obi had while fielded questions from a cross-section of the media in his Abuja office on Monday night to mark the Centenary celebration of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said the situation is worrisome and the IPAC, Civil Society groups, and indeed Nigerians should be consistent in their challenge for good governance.

“We now have a situation where known party card-carrying members of political parties who were even involved in thuggery are being appointed to be a referee in our coming elections,” Obi said.

The LP Presidential Candidates challenged IPAC, civil society, and the people to resist anything that tends to undermine democracy and good governance of the people but they must be civil and within the law.

Obi said, “IPAC should question why 90 per cent of our elections end up in courts with huge resources that should be channeled to the people’s welfare being used for litigations

They should voice out where our courts have become courts of favor, courts of procurement rather than courts of justice and the law.”

He listed the three recent contradictory gubernatorial election cases involving three state governors of the opposition parties, saying: “Look at what is happening in Zamfara, Kano and Plateau and others states.

“My party is not in any of them but we are all affected by injustice, my concern is to do what is right

“Look at the election that happened recently in Kogi and others, nobody is talking about those who were killed. We do not talk about such ugly situations as killings, or maiming because human lives no longer mean anything to us in this country.

“Everybody is watching something we know was wrong. That is why IPAC and civil society should voice out in defense of democracy and good governance.

“I have said it before it’s not about who will benefit today or tomorrow. I have said it before nobody is buying fuel cheaper, nobody is buying food cheaper because he belongs to the ruling party.”

On the recent position of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on democracy, Obi said the former President’s position should not be misconstrued, he is worried like every patriotic person the way our democracy is going and is boldly in his usual way offering solutions.

“For example, if you look at democracy in America where we even copied the Presidential system, there are so many things that we have abandoned. In the US office of the First Lady only exists in name merely for domestic purposes, not for a bogus budget that should be deployed in critical areas for development.

“In America if the President chooses to entertain people you pay for the food. If he chooses to have different dishes you pay for it so you can order fish from Japan at your own expense. You don’t have renovations of different houses for the President with public funds when the people are dying of basic things such as food and health care.

“These are the issues, we have to look at what suits us and how we can manage our resources, expenses, and everything, that is what Obasanjo is saying that we adopt what suits us,” he said.