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What Manner Of Judgement Is This? By Jide Ayobolu
The recent judgement by the Court of Appeal which is the first court of instance in the presidential election tribunal came to many perspective Nigerians as a rude shock. It is the weakest and perhaps the most compromised judgement ever delivered in the annul of court judgements in Nigeria. The judgement is weak in logical, weak in sequential order, weak in content, weak in delivery, and indeed very weak in all ramifications. The Judges of the Court of Appeal did not evaluate the evidences before them. They had made up their minds right from the commencement of the case, to uphold the very questionable and warped election of Umaru Yar’Adua as the president of the very republic of Nigeria. For those of us that went to court to observe proceedings, it was evidently clear that, really the judges were not only hostile but were in a haste to dismiss the application which General Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar brought before them. This Yar’Adua elections that was given a pass mark by the Court of Appeal had been described by the local and international observers as the worst in the history of Nigeria. The election was even compared to elections in Somalia and Mongolia. In fact, the observers said very emphatically that the election fell short of the standards which Nigerians set for themselves. And both petitioners, in this case Buhari and Atiku went to court with plethora of evidence, which include, video clips of how soldiers and police were used in various places to drive away the electorates, and cart away ballot papers, video clips of how security agents were thumb printing for PDP, evidences of alterations on various INEC forms, INEC result sheets that dated 20th of April even before the election took place, letter that Iwu wrote to the MINT that ballot papers must not be serialized, and so many other details of electoral malpractices from virtually all the states of the federation. Yet, these judges never took any of this into consideration while writing their ruling. For a person like me both Mr Mike Ahamba and Professor Alfed Kasumu convinced me and several others beyond all reasonable doubts that the election was fundamentally flawed to warrant its cancellation. In fact, the Transition Monitoring Group described the verdict of the presidential election tribunal upholding President Umaru Yar’Adua’s election as a disaster. It said for any judicial system to uphold an election that characterized by such level of irregularities as the case in Nigeria’s 2007 April polls, it simply means that the judiciary is inviting disaster in the country’s most respected institution. In the case, of the former Secretary General of the Arewa Consulative Forum, Col Hameed Ali (rtd), he also condemned the judgement of the Court of Appeal, saying democracy is doomed in Nigeria with this judgement, we can never get it right again. Alhaji Balarebe Musa has equally thumbs down the judgement describing it as a travesty of justice, just in the same way, Femi Falana, Fred Agbaje and Tam David West have roundly condemned the judgement. In fact, the outcome of the judgement was leaked to the government that was why Yar’Adua delayed his trip to China, and why several ministers and state governors stormed the court for the judgement. Not only this, it is for the same reason that various television stations were allowed to cover the event live, and security was beefed up around the country and particularly in Abuja. And, celebration was already in the air in government circles. This no doubt is not the kind of judgement the country wanted. How can the judges say there is no merit at all in all the pleas sought by the petitioners, the judges did not caution INEC in any way, or reprimand the PDP for its numerous anti-democratic proclivities? Implicitly, the judges gave INEC 100 per cent, for a job well done. But come to think of it, when people say the judiciary is the last bastion hope of masses, it is not the judiciary per se, but the Supreme Court. Nothing really good has come out of lower courts. And, this exemplified by the judgements of Peter Obi, Godwin .I. Ararume and Rotimi Amaechi, in all cases, the Supreme Court against all expectation, but in the spirit of fairplay, justice and equity ruled in their favour. So, there is no doubt whatsoever that the supreme court in the consideration of the appeal by Buhari and Atiku will be firm, thorough and perspicacious. And like Atiku noted, “today’s judgment is not a decision against Atiku Abubakar or the Action Congress. No! it is the peace loving people of Nigeria who have lost today. In my own humble opinion, the people of Nigeria have had their voices silenced again. Justice has not been done and the rape of our young democracy has been sustained. The future of constitutional democracy and free and fair elections in Nigeria, nay, Africa, remains imperiled and we must redouble our efforts at vigilance…..in fact, today’s judgement revalidated this and I am confident still that, even though it may sometimes appear to be a long and tortuous path, there is no alternative to recourse to our courts to seek redress for electoral fraud. Consequently, I have instructed my team of lawyers to compile the records of today’s proceedings and to, immediately, file an appeal at the supreme court of Nigeria to overturn this judgement”. It is therefore unimaginable that some funny characters will be saying that Atiku should not go to the Supreme Court, contending that he has already proved his point. But the question to ask, is what point has he proved? Is it not right, legal and proper for Atiku to go the Supreme Court to get justice? Why are these characters not asking the various Action Congress gubernatorial candidates to withdraw their cases from various Election Tribunals? People must learn how to play politics based on principles, but not because a questionable character was not picked as the running mate to Atiku, and because he was given an oil bloc, he would suddenly turn to a bull in the China shop and misled party member? This is definitely not how to play politics. And, why would an Action Congress Government in Lagos State come out to commend this kind of warped judgement. The press statement by Opeyemi Bamidele is not only misconceived, but totally reckless and unwarranted. When the presidential flag bearer of your party is pursuing a legitimate case in court, you don’t make this kind of ill-motivated statement. If you are not favourably disposed to your presidential flag bearer’s case, the best thing to do is to keep quiet. Again, why will the Lagos State government issued a myopic statement and AC in Lagos State issue a more thoughtful statement, is the Lagos State government in touch with the people at all. Our politicians should learn to always stand by the truth at all times. The same groups of people, who are singing a different tune today, are the same people that will be milling around Atiku if he wins his case at the Supreme Court. This is not how politics is played. This is purely and simply, politics of the belly. Why will the judges of the Court of Appeal say that the various television stations that covered the ruling should not show them? What were they afraid of? Is their conscience troubling them? In fact, as I am writing this piece, I just a features on Sahara reporters on the judgement and it was very disturbing. So, those who are jumping every where today, celebrating, should tarry a little while and allow the Supreme Court to look at the facts of the case and deliver its judgement before any partying takes place. Even those that have been writing that the judgement came on a Super Tuesday, should know that the it was actually a black Tuesday. |