PLATEAU ASSEMBLY CRISIS AND RULE OF LAW
The PDP members cannot resort to self-help. They must follow due process
Since the essence of judicial interventions in election matters is to promote democratic culture and strengthen the confidence of the people in the rule of law, not a few Nigerians were aghast by the appeal court miscarriage of justice concerning 16 members of the Plateau State House of Assembly. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members lost their seats to their defeated opponents in the All Progressives Congress (APC) on grounds that have now been confirmed to be spurious by the Supreme Court. And as we stated recently, all the Court of Appeal Justices involved in the Plateau State tribunal case should be investigated for violating the code of conduct for judicial officers.
However, there should be no room for brigandage or self-help. Despite a Court of Appeal judgment nullifying their elections, which cited their party’s lack of structure as grounds for disqualification, the sacked PDP lawmakers made a futile attempt last week to ‘reclaim’ their seats. Although initially barred by police firing teargas into the sky, they were eventually granted access to the assembly premises, after the plenary had been concluded by the speaker and seven lawmakers whose seats were never subject of contest. The 15 lawmakers under the platform of the APC and a Labour Party (LP) lawmaker that were returned elected in place of the sacked PDP lawmakers by the appellate court, however, stayed away from the proceeding.
Recourse to self-help by the displaced PDP lawmakers is most unhelpful. Storming the House of Assembly, as they did last week, is an open invitation to anarchy in a state that is already battling ethno-religious violence that has claimed hundreds of lives. To enthrone a more peaceful and stable society for citizens and foreigners alike, the inclination for rules and laws must tower over recourse to self-help and violence. As men and women elected to make laws, the PDP members must understand that no matter their frustration, the only available option is for them to go back to the Supreme Court for remedies.
We sympathise with the PDP Lawmakers who were shortchanged by the Court of Appeal. But the idea of taking the law into their own hands is clearly unacceptable. The enduring lesson our politicians must begin to imbibe is that democracy matures when the players submit themselves to the supremacy of the law. Meanwhile, there is also an urgent need for the judiciary to do a serious housecleaning. We recall that the apex court had harsh words for the appeal court justices as well as the lawyers who argued the case. In the lead judgment by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the panel held that the APC and its candidate lacked the locus standi to challenge Governor Caleb Muftwang’s candidacy, going by the provision of section 84(18) of the Electoral Act 2022. “The whole case is a thorough abuse of the court process,” the apex court held. “The legal profession should wake up or it will render itself irrelevant in the eyes of the people with this type of judgment from the Appeal Court,” Justice Agim warned.
The main concern is that even though the courts have always adjudicated on election matters in Nigeria, there is a growing pattern by which those who seek power now prefer judicial ambush to campaigning for votes. In societies where politics is played according to the rules, the resort to the courts after every election is usually minimal. We should therefore be concerned when Judges turn the law upside down in a milieu where many of our politicians just contest elections in which they stand little or no chance and then wait at the gate of tribunals and courts for ‘victory.’
