ACCOMPLISH MAGAZINE NOV 2023

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The judicial autonomy is a mirage in our democracy,
even when it was enshrined in the constitution but
breached in practice, so their financial freedom
and welfare remain crucial to the development of
democracy in Nigeria, and this should be on first line
charge from the national budget, but resisted by the
executive for clear-cut reasons – CONTROL!
Before these judgements,
expectations were intense, and
very few sat on the fence- the
ruling party boasted it had
no case to answer, while the
opposition was resolute that the
evidence put on the table before
the jurists would change the
face of jurisprudence and birth
new precedence that would
enshrine and grow the muchdesired
democratic culture and
ethos in the country.
It appeared the opposition
did a fantastic job with their
post-election campaign’s theme
of eyes on the Judiciary- these
are not good times to be a judge
adjudicating electoral matters
because the judges were also
on trial like never in the annals of
our immediate history.
All eyes on the Judiciary took
a life of its own and dominated
our national consciousness
such that it deserves to pass as
the phrase of the year because
never in the history of this nation
has this arm of government
brought to the cleaners and
public ridicule. But why has
it suffered this magnitude of
disrepute, one wonders, and
is the judicial arm an equal
arm of government or a mere
errand boy for the executive in
the context of the doctrine of
separation of power?
So far, the tribunals have
invalidated some victories at
the State Houses, National
Assembly, NASS, and out of
the 18 gubernatorial electoral
cases adjudicated, two sitting
governors are red-carded, but
matters are proceeding to the
Supreme Court. In all of these,
there seems to be this air of
discontentment and demand
for more blood on the dance
floor of Nigerian politics, and
the angst in the atmosphere is
palpable, demanding the head
of the judicial arm be dragged
to the guillotine.
From the First Republic,
the legendary Chief Obafemi
Awolowo challenged the
outcomes of the elections till the
1983 presidential election, which
was won again for the second
time by Alhaji Shehu Shagari
of the NPN and that election
branded the mother of fraud, yet
the Supreme Court held it legit
with only Justice Kayode Esho
being the dissenting voice on
26 September 1979 – the verdict
for the first tenure. Since the
Fourth Republic, all presidential
election disputations have
gone up to the Supreme Court
except Goodluck Jonathan, who
conceded to General Buhari
before the final whistle.
The elections that brought
Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck
Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari,
and now Bola Tinubu are all
alleged to be fraughted with
irregularities on a massive
scale, but at all points (while we
wait for this present case), the
Supreme Court cleared and
legitimatised those victories.
Fundamentally, something
PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU
is wrong somewhere because
most of the judgements do not
reflect the moods and realities
on the ground, and again, legal
experts are shouting from the
mountaintop that the law is not
emotionally-driven, it thrives on
hard-core evidence, and where
there is none or not sufficiently
proven, mere articulations
and excellence of speech are
merely playing to the gallery
and exciting the uninitiated
in the temple of justice. Some
believe that judges should be
discretional, but medical doctors
must follow the rules, or else the
patient dies, if you do not get it,
forget about it.
So, here we are as a people,
confronted with the same postelection
tribunal disorder stress
and many are hoping that the
Supreme Court will contradict
the appellate courts, which has
not happened in our lifetime and
may likely not happen because
it is either the legal teams of
the oppositions/losers have not
broken the code or organise
their evidence beyond all
reasonable doubts, otherwise,
there is more to Presidential
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Accomplish Magazine