By Ochereome Nnanna
The Constitution gives our Judiciary a role – sacred one at that – in our democracy. It is mandated to give justice to whom it is due. But we are now in a situation where some corrupt members of the Bench collude with powerful politicians to remove and emplace those rejected at the polls. The Nigerian Judiciary is now a self-styled “power broker”.
Nigeria is not the only country where the courts are called upon to adjudicate in electoral cases. Even in the United States where we copied our presidential system from, the courts had their hands full at the end of the 2020 controversial elections. Back home in Africa, the Kenya Supreme Court was saddled with adjudicating a presidential election outcome, and it delivered justice to the true winner of the August 9, 2022 presidential election, William Ruto.
The Nigerian judiciary has a mixed track record of
credibility in election cases. In my layman’s view, they crossed the proverbial
“red line” when the Supreme Court declared Chibuike Amaechi as the winner of
the 2007 governorship election in Rivers State though he never campaigned for
the election. The Court justified its decision on the need to give justice to
whom it was due. Amaechi, who had emerged as the governorship candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was shockingly substituted by President Olusegun
Obasanjo at the campaign ground where he was to be handed the flag of the party.
That judgement was given against
the grain of other legal provisions which empower political parties, subject to
the assessment of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to
sponsor or nominate candidates they feel can win elections for them. Under our
laws and INEC rules, anyone who has objections to the manner of nomination of
candidates in their party can approach the High Court within 14 days after the
conduct of the nomination process.
Such matters are not to be
entertained by the Election Petition Tribunals whose job is strictly to
adjudicate on election day matters. This is because the business of election
tribunals is time-bound, and pre-election matters are beyond their
jurisdictions.
Whenever such cases come up
before election tribunals, judges who know their onions quickly decline
jurisdiction, more so as so many verdicts have settled the matter in law. This
was the case when Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, the head of the Appeal Court
handling the case of the Askira-Uba/Hawul Federal Constituency of Borno State,
declined jurisdiction in a pre-election case seeking to remove Midala Balami of
the PDP from the House of Representatives.
During the recently concluded
challenge of the election of President Bola Tinubu at the Court of Appeal and
the Supreme Court, the issue of double nomination of Vice President Kashim
Shettima as a senatorial candidate and vice presidential candidate was thrown
out, and rightly so, on the ground that it was a pre-election matter.
But this rule is not being
strictly followed by some of the tribunals. This is particularly the case with
the Election Appeal Court for Plateau State set up by the President of the
Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem.
Watchers of Plateau politics
recall that the current Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, as the
Governor of Plateau State who was very close to former President Muhammadu
Buhari, reportedly influenced the appointment of Dongban-Mensem when Justice
Zainab Bulkachuwa retired as the President of the Court in March 2022. Lalong
also contested for the Senate on the All Progressives Congress, APC, platform
but lost woefully to retired AVM Napoleon Bali of the PDP by 93,674 votes to
148,844.
But the Election Petition
Tribunal nullified Bali’s election on the pre-election ground that the PDP had
no credible structure to sponsor him as a candidate! The case is now before the
Appeal Court panel set up by Justice Dongban-Mensem.
In another stunning case, the Senator representing
Plateau North, Simon Mwadkon, who was Senate Minority Leader, also had his
election nullified on the ground that the PDP did not “fully” comply with a
State High Court order for a repeat party congress. This was another
pre-election matter which the panel delved into, to order for a rerun of the
election. Mwadkon had scored 155,681 to beat the candidates of the Labour
Party, LP, Gyang Zi 79,831 and Chris Giwa of the APC 78,392.
This same court nullified the
election of another PDP member representing the Bassa/Jos North Federal
Constituency, Musa Avia, who had beaten PRP, LP and APC candidates based on the
same alleged “lack of structure”. A rerun was also ordered. But in the case of
the Shendam/Quanpan/Mikang Federal Constituency, the incumbent, Isaac Kwallu of
the PDP, was sent packing while victory was awarded to John Dafaan of the APC.
Kwallu had beaten the APC candidate by 74,645 to 43,467. The case was also
decided based on the “lack of structure” pre-election issue.
Naturally, with these confusing
decisions which are contrary to settled verdicts of the apex Court, tongues are
wagging on various Plateau platforms and discussion circles. The name of the
Appeal Court President, Dongban-Mensem, is being dragged. She is accused of
colluding with Minister Lalong and the APC to use the Judiciary to undo PDP’s
victories and bring the APC back to power in the state through the back door.
This double standard being used
to subvert the people’s will is not acceptable. It is an invitation to anarchy
and will kill our democracy. The National Judicial Council, NJC, should call
judicial officers to order. The principle of judicial precedence must be
followed. That is the course of justice.
*Nnanna
is a commentator on public issues
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