Politics
Scandal in judiciary, as politicians ‘decide judgements’
It was Justice Muhammad Dattijo, who retired as a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria last month who as a parting shot, berated his colleagues for destroying the image of the judiciary by revelling in bribery and corruption, that first gave an insider view of how the country’s judicial system had decayed.
But many say the recent decisions the court of appeal in various election litigations, where judges whimsically overturned the votes of millions of electorates, give deeper insight into the systemic rot; an indication that the country is entering uncharted territory.
“These days some us are ashamed to identify what has become of the legal profession in this country,” a senior lawyer who craved anonymity to Business Hallmark. “Gone were the days this profession had honour. But now, politicians have destroyed everything and have bought up our consciences.”
Some have described it as an era of judicial coups, others say it’s the executive capture of the once revered third arm of government, but most agree that these are uncertain times.
The rulings last week followed a pattern: Victories of members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the various governorship elections, however contentious, as was the case in Nasarawa, Kaduna and Ogun, were upheld, even when the tribunal had overturned them or called for rerun, but victories of opposition candidates, however resounding, as the case of Zamfara, Kano and Plateau, were voided, in what many say is an attempt by the ruling party to capture states by the hook or the crook in preparation for the 2027 polls.
“Even conscientious APC drumbeaters confess in private that they are manipulating the judiciary to take over Kano, Plateau, and Zamfara as indemnity for the 2027 presidential election. They see the states as high-reward but low-risk states to grab,” wrote Farooq Kperogi, a columnist, academic and public affairs commentator at the weekend.
“One APC supporter told me my apprehensions about Kano devolving into sanguinary fury as a result of the brazen theft of NNPP’s victory there—which the Supreme Court will give final imprimatur to— didn’t take into account the fact that Kano explodes only when the trigger is religious. I hope he is right because, as a pacifist, I resent violence and the shedding of blood, particularly for political or religious reasons. But there is also such a thing as foolish optimism.”
The court of appeal had predictably on Friday, November 17, affirmed the order of the Kano state governorship election petition tribunal which sacked Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), as governor of the state.
But while the tribunal voided the election by declaring 165,663 votes of Yusuf invalid on the grounds that they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the appeal court’s three-man panel led by Justice Moore Adumein, on its part, held that the NNPP breached the constitution by sponsoring Yusuf who was not a member of the party, a pre election matter.
It was a similar scenario the following Sunday, November 19, when the appeal court also has sacked the governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and declared APC’s Nentawe Goshwe winner of the governorship election.
Although Mutfwang had 525,299 votes while Goshwe, polled 481,370 votes in the March 18 governorship election in the state, the APC candidate challenged the outcome of the election in court on the grounds that Mutfwang was not validly nominated by the PDP. A three-member panel of the state governorship election petition tribunal headed by Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh, had however, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.
But Nentawe headed to the appeal court, and on Sunday, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu, citing Section 177 of the Constitution, held that the governor was not validly sponsored by the PDP for the election.
She held that the party violated a court order directing it to conduct a valid congress in the 17 local government areas of that state, arguing that there was no evidence that the PDP complied with a subsisting High Court order which had directed it to conduct a valid party congress prior to its sponsorship of the governorship and other candidates.
Curiously, days before the appeal court verdict, a certain journalist, Jackson Ude, had in a post on X, alleged that the justices had received $5m as bribe to remove the Plateau governor and declare his APC opponent governor, an allegation himself dismissed and asked security agencies to probe Mr. Ude.
Mr. Ude had also alleged that Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa governor who was earlier sacked by the tribunal, would be reinstated by the appeal court as part of what he claimed were plots by the APC government to capture Kano, Zamfara, Plateau, Delta and Nasarawa states. He had initially claimed that Sheriff Oborevwori, the PDP governor of Delta State would be sacked by the appeal court, but now says the plotters have decided to use the Supreme Court to remove him instead.
“The Appeal Court will now uphold the election of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta state in a move aimed at dousing rising tensions over the spate at which the Government of the All Progressive Congress, APC, has been using the Courts to sack elected politicians in opposition parties,” Ude alleged via his X account, @jacksonpbn, on Thursday. “Informants said APC would now plan to use the Supreme Court to sack the Delta Governor and install Ovie Omo-Agege of the APC as Governor. APC has plans to take Plateau, Delta and retain Nasarawa as part of efforts for an easy 2027 elections.”
BH cannot, however verify Ude’s claims. Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday, the appellate court also sacked Dauda Lawal, the PDP governor of Zamfara, and declared the March 18 governorship election in the state inconclusive. The court ordered a rerun in three local government areas: Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukkuyum.
Lawal had defeated the then-incumbent governor, Bello Matawalle, of the APC, now minister of state for defence.
But while the above three governors elected on the platform of opposition parties had their elections overturned in the past few days, those of the ruling party, including Dapo Abiodun of Ogun; Uba Sani of Kaduna where the tribunal had ordered rerun in some wards, and Sule of Zamfara who was sacked by the tribunal, all scaled the appeal court hurdle in what some observers allege is part of plot by the government of Bola Tinubu to capture strategic states ahead of 2027.
“It’s ironic that President Tinubu, who’s against coup in Niger Republic, is coercing the judiciary to topple democratically elected opposition governors in his country. Under President Obasanjo, PDP lost Kano and Lagos to opposition parties (APP and AD), and that neither stopped Obasanjo from winning re-election nor PDP from making a back-to-back succession,” noted Jaafar Jaafar, journalist and publisher of Daily Nigerian in a post via X. “Kano and Plateau are Nigeria’s magma chambers of conflict. Nothing triggers resort to self-help more than injustice. Leaders are primarily elected to protect the lives and property of the people, not to instigate conflicts.”
Jaafar was, however, countered by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to Tinubu on information on strategy who argued that his submission is “a reckless accusation against President Tinubu, made without proof and possibly picked up from a barbing saloon. As a publisher, Jaafar should know better and be cautious in joining the opposition to mudsling President Tinubu. President Tinubu has nothing to do with the Court of Appeal.”
But despite Onanuga’s best efforts, there’s an overwhelming concencus among many Nigerians that the decisions of the courts are being influenced by his principal. Indeed, this belief was further reinforced when it emerged that last week that while the appeal cour in its ruling on the appeal by the Kano governor, upheld his sack, the certified true copy of the judgment showed that the appellate court sacked the governor and upheld his election.
As shown in the document made available to the NNPP in Kano, the lead judgment, delivered by Justice Adumein, resolved live issues “in favour of the first respondent and against the appellant.”
The appellant is Governor Yusuf, while the 1st respondent is the APC; with INEC and the NNPP as 2nd and 3rd respondents.
The pronouncement essentially upheld the verdict of the governorship election tribunal which earlier ruled that APC’s Nasir Gawuna, was the rightful winner of the election.
But after this definitive paragraph, which logically concludes the consideration and resolution of various issues and arguments in the judgment, followed an explicitly contradictory paragraph.
“In the circumstances, I resolve all the issues in favour of the appellant and against the first respondent,” the paragraph read. This second paragraph holds that “all” issues are resolved in favour of the appellant, Mr Yusuf and added that the judgement of the governorship election tribunal, which sacked Mr Yusuf, is set aside.
“The judgement of the tribunal in Petition No: EPT/KN/GOV/01/2023 between: All Progressives Congress (APC) v. Independent National Electoral Commission & 2 ORS. delivered on the 20th day of September, 2023 is hereby set aside,” it read.
The judgment further awarded N1 million in cost in favour of Mr Yusuf against the respondents of the appeal.
Amid the confusion, however, the court of appeal insisted that its judgment sacking Yusuf stands.
The Chief Registrar of the appellate court, Umar Mohammed Bangari, in a statement, while noting that the contradictory parts of the judgement were clerical errors, said that such error does not in any way invalidate or change the findings and conclusion of the court.
He noted that Order 23 Rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Hand Book, which empowers the court to correct any clerical error once detected by the court or any of the parties in the matter, supports the position of the court.
“What happened in the part of the judgment is just a mere clerical error that ought not to draw any issue. The Court is empowered to correct such clerical error and would be done as appropriate,” he said.
But his explanation did not convince skeptics. Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), described the contradictory judgment as scandalous to the integrity of the judiciary.
According to him, “The main judgment of the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the judgment of the lower court is wrong and has set it aside in writing and granted all the relief sought by Governor Abba. So many contradictions that the court can no longer explain.”
Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, in his part contended that the confusion is not a clerical error.
“The confusion is not a clerical error. That was the old law that I was taught. No judiciary that is credible will produce this kind of judgment and certify it. This is not coming from a customary court, it is not coming from an area court, it is not even coming from a high court,” he said when he appeared on Channels TV politics today. “This is the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, the second highest court in the country. Any lawyer worth their onions should be scandalised by it irrespective of whatever side you take.”
Prof. Odinkalu’s sentiments were re-echoed by Prof. Kperogi who contended that the error was not clerical, but evidence that the judgment was influenced.
“When I said the appeal court judgments against non-APC governors seem like premeditated judicial manipulations, I am not saying this from the resources of my emotions—or to get back in the good graces of the anti-Tinubu crowd. No, it’s because the facts point to it,” he remarked.
“Take, for instance, the confusion over the contradictory judgment of the court of appeal in the Kano governorship case. It’s evident that the appeal court judges at some point dug deep into their consciences and ruled in favor of justice by vacating the judgment of the lower court that overturned NNPP’s victory. But something later contaminated their consciences, which compelled them to rewrite their judgment.”
The US based academic, further noted that, “The raft of scandalously unjust and predetermined appeal court judgments against the non-APC governors of Kano, Plateau, and Zamfara states bears the testimonies of a compromised and barefacedly mercenary judiciary and of the fact that what is lost isn’t hope but hype.”
For the sacked governors, their last hope now rests with the Supreme Court. But many observers say there’s little chance of the apex court reversing the decision of the lower court, given what they say is the capture of the judiciary in preparation for the next general election.
President Tinubu, who took power on May 29, had won the highly controversial February 25, 2023 presidential election, according to results announced by INEC. The results announced by the electoral body, which opposition candidates contested all the way to the Supreme Court, alleging brazen manipulation of figures in Rivers, Lagos, among other states, showed that he had 8.7 million votes or 36 percent of the total, while key opposition candidates, namely Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, who had 6.9 million votes; Peter Obi of the Labour Party who had 6.1 million votes and NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso who had 1.4 million votes, shared a combined 60 percent of the total.
The three candidate were members of the PDP before the later duo broke away to join the Labour Party and the NNPP respectively, and following their ultimate electoral loss, there’s been calls, championed by Atiku, for the opposition to come together ahead of the 2027 polls.
Many analysts had argued that if they had all remained in the PDP, the APC could not have retained power. Perhaps it with this in mind that the former vice president is seeking an alliance of his old friends ahead of 2027. And it could indeed be a measure to counter this possibility that the ruling party is taking.
In all however, amid the loss of confidence in the electoral system, and in view of the verdicts of the courts thus far, there’s an emerging school of thought that insist that the 2027 polls will be an open warfare.
“From some decisions there is no need seeking electoral justice in Nigeria courts or Tribunals anymore. Nothing you do that the Judicial system will not find faults with. The signs coming from our courts show that elections or selections in 2027 will be war. Yes war. Winning at all costs without regards to democratic tenets,” noted a senior lawyer, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, SAN.
“But when the fruits of the seeds of injustice being planted in judgments by Nigerian courts in aid of electoral frauds in electoral jurisprudence germinate sooner or later, all those planting the seeds in judgments and members of the legal profession may not escape the calamiteous end of our democracy. No judge or lawyer can practice in state of lawlessness and arnachy. That is it.
“To hold that subpoenaed witnesses cannot testify in election petitions either orally or by written form is indeed a recipe for injustice, anarchy and destruction of Nigerian democracy. To say that INEC is not an adversary in election petitions but it is an independent umpire is difficult to understand.
“There is no doubt the Constitution gives judiciary responsibility to resolve disputes. In the wisdom of the draftsman judiciary is an arbiter to resolve dispute for peace and progress of the nation.
“The judiciary as an institution that has responsibility to aid justice cannot continue to mount judicial road blocks for attaining that justice on the arid altar of technicality without thinking of the dare consequences on our nation.
“Stolen evidence we are told is admissible. Electoral Act 2022 makes Evidence Act applicable in the hearing and determination of election petitions. Subpoena is one of the ways to get evidence and bring it before the Court under the Evidence Act. The provisions of the 1st schedule to the Electoral Act 2022 is the rule of procedure. It is not a substantive law. It cannot be used to defeat the end of justice. But that is what is going on now. The courts have suddenly become slave to procedural law in total disdain to justice and common sense. What a country of absurdities of illogicality.
“There is no need to seek justice in court as it appears hopeless to do so. We are told to go to court. Court we go in search of electoral justice. In court you meet principles that set concrete as road blocks to justice. INEC does not release documents before election petitions are filed. Justice is being slaughtered on the altar of undue legal technicality in our electoral jurisprudence by our courts and the judex are just behaving and playing the ostrich?
“The new dimension to this vexed question of subpoenaed witnesses is that INEC is said not to be an adversary anymore. INEC the Court of Appeal said is neutral person and therefore not an adversary in election petitions. Small small we are doing goodbye to electoral litigations. Mighty are just right now. Do whatever you can to be declared winner and become untouchable.
“I do not think the judiciary is doing what is right in some judgments in electoral jurisprudence. We are heading to bad destination in our electoral jurisprudence. God forbide that the legal profession is allowed to destroy democracy in Nigeria.”
