A SUPREME VERDICT: A VINDICATION OF SORTS

 CHRIS GYANG contends that the Supreme Court has restored, even if slightly, the confidence of the common man in the judiciary

Scenes of jubilation have been reported across Plateau State.

Waves of elated crowds flowed onto the streets, nooks and crannies to celebrate the January 12, 2024 judgement of the Supreme Court upholding the election of Governor Caleb Mutfwang in the March 18, 2023, gubernatorial election.

At last, the Supreme Court has upset the applecart. 

By insisting that, indeed, pre-election matters do not have a place in elections litigations, the apex court has put an official stamp of illegality, illegitimacy, on all of those members of the state and national parliaments from Plateau State who now occupy those positions as a result of the Appeal Court’s egregious verdict to the contrary.  

Governor Mutfwang’s victory at the Supreme Court is widely seen as a much-needed relief that would rekindle the hope of a people who had almost completely lost confidence in the country’s judiciary and the democratic process.

 This judgement also serves as a redemption, a vindication of sorts, for Nigeria’s judiciary. A judiciary whose reputation had been battered and dragged in the mud during the process of the litigations arising from the 2023 general elections. 

And Plateau people were the greatest victims of this turpitude because, unlike many other Nigerians, they witnessed conflicting judgements by the same tribunals regarding the same matters of law.

Worst of all, politically exposed individuals openly boasted that they had the political and financial wherewithal to influence the courts. For them, that oppressive and agonizing dystopia was real.

These inordinately protracted litigations have taken a huge toll on the state. As we have pointed out elsewhere, long-standing family and individual ties have soured; some communities and tribes now look at each other with great suspicion and hatred; and even believers of the same religions now worship with mutual feelings of burning bitterness and resentment in their spirits. Indeed, the state is deeply fractured and in dire need of true healing and reconciliation.

The general well-being and development of the state has taken the greatest bashing. While other governors that were inaugurated on the same day with Mutfwang have made relatively considerable strides in meeting the yearnings of their people, Plateau State has been encumbered and slowed down by the bad blood, enmity and disunity that have of necessity wafted from the elections’ petitions.

Being dragged to the elections tribunal, then to the appellate court from where he was compelled to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the lower court for quashing his mandate, Governor Mutfwang must be super human not to be bogged down by these distractions. 

Moreover, observers say that most of these cases were mere sabre-rattling by losers as the outcome the elections had already been sufficiently determined at the polls. However, now that this particular battle has been won, the governor must put behind him the obvious animosities of the past eight months, embrace all citizens and members of the opposition party and carry on with the incredible developmental projects he was able to initiate (some of which have been completed) even under the great stress and tension he had to operate.

Analysts suggest that the governor should also look inwards – into his own PDP. They contend that discontent is very rife among some members which outsiders have consistently capitalized on to cause the avoidable misunderstandings within party ranks that have continued to simmer. 

Neglecting this profound truth will further widen the cracks. This will constitute sinister hurdles for the Mutfwang administration which has so far exhibited a profound determination at taking a quantum jump. 

But even as Plateau citizens savour this victory, it must be pointed out that giving the judiciary so much leverage in determining the winners or losers of elections is fraught with great dangers for our emerging democracy. Even in the world’s greatest liberal democracy, the United States of America, the two states that have so far removed former President Trump from their primaries ballots and the other court cases seeking to bar him from November’s presidential vote are facing a lot of backlash from Americans.

Even Trump’s fellow Republican contenders for the party’s presidential ticket believe that he should be allowed to partake in the GOP’s primaries so that the voters can decide whether or not they want him to be their presidential candidate. Allowing the courts usurp that sacrosanct right and privilege of voters in a true democracy is unacceptable.

As we have seen in the Plateau verdicts so far, senators and House of Representatives and House of Assembly members of the opposition political parties who were officially declared losers by INEC in their various elections have now been imposed by the appellate court on the electorate.

 Do these supposed ‘winners’ truly reflect the wishes of the voters? Certainly not. That negates the very essence of democracy which gives the voter the primacy of place in the electoral process and the democratic space as a whole. 

That is why there is an urgent need for our electoral laws to be further rejigged. This will save us from the potential danger of making losing an election the rule rather than the exception. 

Sadly, the prospects of being outrightly rejected by the electorate is gradually being made out to be more lucrative and rewarding, even fashionable, than winning an election square and fair.

That said, the Supreme Court has restored, even if slightly, the confidence of the common man in the judiciary and in the process removed itself from the cesspit of disrepute into which it had sank in the last eight months. 

But a lot more needs to be done to cleanse, uplift and place it upon the pedestal it is constitutionally required to stand as an unbiased and reputable arbiter and interpreter in our country’s hallowed temple of justice. 

Gyang is the Chair of the Jos, Plateau State-based, not-for-profit organization, Journalists Coalition for Citizens’ Rights Initiative – JCCRI. Emails:info@jccri-online.org; chrisgyang 01@gmail.com