2023 Poll: Judiciary as Last Hope of Common Man

That the outcome of the 2023 presidential election wherein candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was declared winner, will be challenged in court is not in dispute. However, the worry of many Nigerians is whether the Supreme court would live above board in adjudicating the case, going by the crisis of confidence and corruption that has rocked the judicial arm in

The role the judiciary play in any society or country can best be appreciated by the evergreen statement of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “There can be no justice without peace, and there can be no peace without justice”. And like Lord Hewart, one of the great legal luminaries of all times observed, “it is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”.

Unfortunately, not many Nigerians see justice being done in Nigeria today, despite efforts by the courts to ensure justice is done in cases brought before them. For example, so many Nigerians are yet to see the justice in declaring two candidates of the All Progressives Congress, who did not participate in the party’s initial primary election for the selection of senatorial candidate as winner of the primary. Both Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and former Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio, had bought presidential nomination forms and actually participated in the presidential primary where they lost to Tinubu. However, they had emerged through another senatorial primary which the court declared them winner, simply because the suit was wrongly commenced by the plaintiffs.

Besides the two recent judgments that have put the courts in a further bad light, especially the apex court, the current insecurity in Imo State have been blamed by some people on the emergence of the governor as the authentic winner of the 2019 governorship election.

While candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had won majority of the votes cast at the poll and declared winner, the apex court however, in its judgment held that candidate of the APC, who initially came fourth in the result declared by INEC, was the authentic winner because it was proven that the electoral umpire was wrong in voiding votes in over 300 polling units which when added made the APC winner of the governorship poll.

In essence, because a lot of people cannot see the justices in some of these cases, they no longer have confidence in the courts and by extension the judiciary. Little wonder they brand the courts as corrupt, filled with judges who are ready and willing to do the biddings of money bags or influential people in the society.

The issue of corruption allegations in the judiciary is not new. The administration of Buhari, did not only accused the third arm of corruption but moved against it in 2016, when its security apparatus carried out the infamous sting operation on the residents of judges, including a Supreme Court Justice who was later arraigned in court, although, he was later discharged and acquitted.

The Buhari government did not rest on its oars in the fight against perceived corruption in the judiciary as it again moved to prosecute a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, who was then sacked for giving false information about his assets in his Assets Declaration form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

Although, it has not been established, but it is believed that the same corruption allegations that took Onnoghen out of office also dealt with his successor, Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, who had voluntarily resigned from office, citing health ground.

Unlike Onnoghen’s case when the allegations of corruption came from outside the Judiciary, that of Muhammad was from 14 of his colleagues on the same bench at the apex court. Their allegations were contained in a form of protest letter wherein they complained about the non-availability of basic amenities both in their chambers and homes, which according to them was capable of shutting down activities at the final court.

Specifically, they had complained about the non-replacement of poor vehicles; accommodation problems; lack of drugs at the Supreme Court clinic; epileptic electricity supply to the Supreme Court; increase in electricity tariff; no increase in the allowances for diesel; lack of internet services to residences and chambers.

Others are internal problems including non-signing of amended Rules of Court for almost three years; sudden stoppage of two to three foreign workshops and training per annum for Justices; no provision of qualified legal assistants. The deplorable situation was such that the Chief Registrar was said to have served Justices with an internal memo, that electricity would be supplied to the Court between the hours of 8 am and 4 pm daily, for lack of diesel.

“The implication of this memo is that the Justices must finish their work and close before 4 pm. With all due respect, this is the peak of the degeneration of the Court; it is the height of decadence and clear evidence of the absence of probity and moral rectitude. This act alone portends imminent danger to the survival of this Court and the Judiciary as an institution, which is gradually drifting to extinction”, a source had said. Before the protest letter by the 14 justices of the apex court, a former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ejembi Eko, had brought to the fore the rot and decay in the judiciary, at a valedictory session held for him during his retirement from the bench of the apex court.

Eko, particularly berated the National Judicial Council (NJC) for still keeping judges whose conduct he said “were grave and were clearly designed to undermine the rule of law and to deliberately cause confusion and unleash anarchy” because their action was coming at a time the country is preparing for a crucial general election.

He was referring to how the council handled the issue of three judges indicted for giving conflicting judgments. “With all deference to the NJC; the punishments fell short of the expectations of the public that these bad eggs should have been broken or smashed and or/ exterminated to serve as deterrence”.

According to Eko, when the punishment for an “outstandingly bad and outrageous conduct” is far too lenient it encourages impunity and is likely to be repeated by others.

However, since assumption of office as CJN last year, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola has not hidden his intention of redeeming the batered image of the judiciary. He had on several occasions charged stakeholders in the justice sector to ensure fairness, equity and the Rule of Law prevail at all times.

Speaking at a Capacity Building Workshop and formal inauguration of members of the 2023 Election Petition Tribunals, Ariwoola warned that his administration “will not condone any act of recklessness, abuse of power and public trust”. He advised judges to see their membership of the tribunals as a rare privilege for which they must give a good account of themselves.

“Your Lordships should count yourselves worthy to be so entrusted with this humongous responsibility of deciding the fate of those that would be contesting elections into various political offices in the country in 2023”, he said.

“Trust is a burden and you must discharge it with utmost sincerity, honesty and transparency, because conscience is an open wound healed only by truth. You must rise and operate above every sentiment that might play out in the course of your adjudication in the various tribunals. There is no doubt that temptations, tribulations, intimidations and even sheer blackmails may be unleashed on you but as thoroughbred Judicial Officers, you must guide your loins to rise above them and do what will earn you accolades from your creator and also from the court of public opinions”, the CJN added.

Besides the CJN, the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has also been harping on the need for the judiciary to live above board. President of the NBA, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, like his predecessor, Olumide Akpata is pursing the punishment of erring lawyers that by their unprofessional conduct put the legal profession in bad light.

Akpata had before leaving office last year referred seven lawyers including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to the body’s Disciplinary Committee for necessary action over their alleged complicity in court’s issuance of conflicting orders last year. Although, nothing has been heard on the matter since then, the former NBA president had claimed that, “some lawyers have been identified to have played roles in conflicting decisions that emanated from different courts recently.

“They are seven in number, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. We are in the process of filing a petition against them before the LPDC. This is based on our determination to ensure that the system is protected, irrespective of those involved”.

Like the CJN, the President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau, warned lawyers not to derail the nation’s democracy by their conduct in the general elections.

He observed that besides the need to guarantee the security of the lives and properties of Nigerians as they troop out to vote in the 2023 general elections, the ultimate outcome of the election will largely depend on the interface between the Bench, the Bar and the political gladiators. He warned that members of the legal profession, serving either on the Bench or at the Bar, owe Nigerians sincere and honest participation in the process.

“We must do all that is legitimately within our abilities, motivated by the desire to serve the course of justice, to ensure that the relevant laws and rules, properly interpreted and applied, remain the guiding principles for our involvement in the process. While we shall stand with the Courts and do everything legal to protect the integrity of the Bench against any form of intimidation by the political class, any person or group of persons, we will not hesitate to call out and pursue disciplinary action(s) against erring judicial officials.

“Similarly, members of the Bar who misconduct themselves while participating in the resolution of electoral disputes will face disciplinary action at the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), where Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) are involved”, he said.

Only last month, the National Judicial Council (NJC) under the Chairmanship of Ariwoola, set up a probe panel to investigate 15 judges of various High Courts over various allegations.

However, it is only a matter of time for Nigerians to see how well these warnings have impacted on judges and lawyers as well as other judiciary staff. Even before the inauguration of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, aggrieved parties have commenced moves to challenge the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the poll. Both Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who came second and third respectively have already secured an order of court permitting them to inspect “all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the election for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on February 25, 2023”.

The court order which was granted on March 3, by Justice Joseph Ikyegh of the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, also permitted them to do electronic scanning and / or make photocopies of Voter’s Registration, ballot papers used in the presidential election.

In addition, both Atiku and Obi are by the order permitted to “carryout digital forensic inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the February 25” presidential election.

From the constitution of the presidential panel and throughout the hearing and final determination of the election petition case at the Supreme Court, it would be in the interest of the judiciary, politicians, citizens, democracy, Nigeria, Africa and the entire world that “justice is seen to have been done” and not merely done. This is the only way the judiciary can redeem its already battered image and by extension that of Nigeria before the international community.