Buhari vs. Obasanjo - the Supreme Court has Spoken

By

John Iyobhebhe  

iyobhebhe@hotmail.com  

Now that the Supreme Court has resolved that the irregularities during the 2003 elections did not materially affect the outcome of the 2003 Presidential elections and that OBJ is the duly elected President of Nigeria, the political establishment must close ranks now and support the President in his attempt to move the country forward. Mohammadu Buhari said, before the ruling, if the Supreme Court ruled against him he would accept the ruling and move on. Now the Supreme Court has spoken. He must now congratulate the victor, shake hands and live to fight another day. The interest of Nigeria is greater than the political interest of any single candidate. It is the legal end of the road for Buhari and case closed on the 2003 elections. The acceptance of the ruling with a caveat is unnecessary. I expected him to say: ‘The Supreme Court has spoken and as a democrat, I accept the verdict and congratulations to the President. Let us all try and move Nigeria forward in the years ahead’. Not ‘I accept but disagree with the verdict’. It is time to put Nigeria First, General Buhari. I think that it is a shame on the political and legal system in Nigeria that an appeal against the 2003 presidential election has taken over 2 years to resolve. It is embarrassing. What if the Supreme Court had resolved that OBJ did not win the 2003 election? Every law enacted, every appointment made, every money spent would have been illegal as well. How come it took so long? There must be a statutory limit for all electoral challenges otherwise issues like this and un-elected senators in the Senate for 2 years, only to be thrown out as impersonators will continue to pose credibility questions for the political system. In my view, all petitions should be resolved within a very short period after the election. With regard to the Supreme Court judgment, I don’t think there was any real chance of Buhari succeeding, if the truth be told. But the law must be allowed to take its natural course, I suppose. We all know that elections in Nigeria are always marred with irregularities, rigging and undemocratic tactics to a larger or lesser extent. And it will continue to be so in a country where poverty is wide spread, where politicians practice win at any cost politics and where people are willing and ready to do anything for the right price. It is nothing new and no doubt after the 2007 elections the loser will complain of the same thing, and so on. In all legal and practical reality, it is the extent to which these irregularities affect the outcome of the elections that is the main issue. This was the crux of the matter at the Supreme Court. And in this case the Supreme Court was right.

The irregularities, by the ANPP and PDP did not substantially affect the outcome of the Presidential election. Politically, even if we accept that Buhari was going to do well in the Sharia states of the Far North, the Niger Delta, South West, South East and Middle Belt were never going to give him the support he needed for victory. These were OBJ and PDP territory and OBJ was always going to win in at least four of the six geo-political zones, sentiments and emotions apart. On a purely practical level, it was pretty impossible for the Supreme Court to hold otherwise. If they had supported Buhari’s assertion then every appointment since 2003 would have been illegal; every act signed into law by OBJ since 2003 would have been null and void; every kobo spent by OBJ’s government since 2003 would have been illegally spent; every ambassador, judge, general, minister, chairman of board etc would have been illegally appointed. In essence Nigeria would not have had a government since 2003. We know this was not a practical outcome, legal arguments apart. If the outcome was otherwise, would they have called for new Presidential elections or would Buhari have been declared winner? We all know these were never practical or realistic outcomes. Buhari has made his point and here it must end. Henceforth he must make constructive contributions to national issues, attend NCS meetings and prepare for what must be his last chance of being elected President in 2007. He will have his old adversary, IBB, Atiku and a host of others to contend with. If he cannot broaden his appeal beyond the Sharia states he will fail again, for sure. I was never apprehensive of the Supreme Court reaching a sensible, practical and realistic verdict. Some people argued that the personal problems of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court would affect the outcome. I had no fear about that. The decision was not his alone to make (six other justices on panel) and the last thing he was going to do was allow his personal problems to affect his professional judgment as a Justice of the Supreme Court-especially on a very significant judgment as this. There are big lessons to be learnt. The issue of time limit for all election petitions comes to mind. Second, Nigerians must learn to be realistic and accept that it is possible to lose elections. In any election, someone must win and someone must lose. No one is born to rule and no region has an exclusive right to the Presidency. Third, there are serious lessons on how elections should not be conducted. INEC has a lot of lessons to learn from the 2003 elections. Finally, the political elites must realise now that the political landscape has changed. That only a candidate with a broad national appeal can prevail and that there is no guarantee that a candidate from the North will necessarily get all the votes in North East, North West and all of the Middle Belt. The lake MKO Abiola proved this in 1993 and OBJ has done so again in 2003. Nigeria is changing. Whilst it was within Buhari’s constitutional rights to go to the Supreme Court, in practical and political terms it was unnecessary in my view. Let us all move on. Nigeria needs to move out of the poverty league into the league of prosperity. Nigeria needs to be a Creditor not a Debtor nation.

Nigeria needs to be a middle-income developing nation in 15-20 years time.

Nigeria needs to be less dependent on oil as the only source of national income. Nigeria needs to establish a tolerant, secular and pluralistic society under democracy and the rule of law. Nigeria needs to do the right thing for the majority of Nigerians. These are the real challenges and I think all hands should be on deck now.

John Iyobhebhe

iyobhebhe@hotmail.com