Nigerian Court of Appeal Justices, who delivered judgments in the petitions against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s February 25, 2023 victory, did one thing that is unprecedented in the nation’s administration of justice. The five-man panel of judges of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) spent over 12 hours reading their judgments, thus arousing the curiosity as to many Nigerians, learned or ordinary, now asking questions “what was it that their lords were trying to justify”.
They are; Justice Stephen Adah – Court of Appeal (Asaba division), Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf – Court of Appeal (Asaba Division), Moses Ugo – Kano Division, Justice Abba Mohammed Bello – Ibadan Court of Appeal and Justice Haruna Tsammani – Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal. The storm in the assignment before them yesterday was in the fact that they had a proceeding where one of the parties involved was already functioning as a very powerful President in Africa. A case leading to all eyes of the world to watch closely.
Noticeably, since it ended – the judgment delivery that saw many dignitaries present having situation with what main and social media have shown as “exercising” their eyes as a result of long time of being subjected to sitting – the atmosphere has continued to be calm and cold with undercurrent grumblings going on.
More curiously, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who by dispositions of his party and legal counsels had never allowed for once for proceedings of the Tribunal to be televised, had not only felt at home with live television coverage of the final judgment but also traveled out of the country as he dropped a hint about his losing no sleep over the much hyped “judgment day” that was to come on Wednesday September 6. It would be understandable that he went to explore for better investment opportunities for the country he had led even as confirmation of his highest seat’s legitimacy was, as at that time, yet to come.
It will be recalled that the President, who had also been tongue-lashed by military juntas in the Republics of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger over this issue of presidency’s legitimacy, had his lawyers, specifically Mr. Wole Olanipekun (SAN), telling before the court that there would be chaos should he be sent out of power. He said that before the same Tribunal, where practicality of the facts and evidence presentations were made by the petitioners’ lawyers – despite reported attempts by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to block them from accessing necessary documents required to support their cases.
This Nigeria’s only multilingual globalised online newspaper would have no issue with whatever transpired, because the first stage of judgment has now come to the knowledge of all and all issues raised by the petitions have been put off as inconsequential as they were not only dismissed but, to a further extent, also expunged from the records of the court.
But Nigerians themselves, who were at the receiving end of all that happened on the election day, are saying they remain the most with rights to their own happiness and are consoled by the fact that history will not forget how they faced those experiences and how a court they look up to as where to get justice have said nothing happened to them.
But the political parties and their presidential candidates, especially those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), have decided that the struggle in the pursuit of justice has not ended with the Tribunal as they will definitely go to the Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN) where they believe their dismissed petitions will be reviewed and the needful will be done.
Issues that will need to be resolved are, among others, those of implications that Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is now a 37th State in the 36-State Federal Republic of Nigeria, according to the five judges of the Court of Appeal, who sat on the judgments at the PEPT. If it is so, further questions will crop up in ways that many now fear will create constitutional crisis. Supreme Court will be expected to review the Tribunal’s judgment and make its final ruling on that.
Another issue will be that of the VEHEMENTLY PROMISED use of BVAS and IReV by the INEC but which was upturned at the last minute without pre-knowledge of all the stakeholders. The court said this is not necessary. Questions will now be raised as to why Professor Mahmood Yakubu had to ever submit a budget running into billions of Naira to procure a technology for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections, when he knew that those technological equipment were not needed? The question about how such billions were lost on Nigeria despite its many economy challenges will also be raised and there should be the need for the billions to be refunded back to the purse of the nation.
Although some supporters of the ruling party – in whose favour was that surprised attitude by the electoral umpire – celebrated and have continued to occupy the social media in certification of such practice that even European Union, Transition Monitoring Group and other democracy watchers have expressed reservations about, The DEFENDER holds that if injustice is perpetrated against somebody or a party today and those other people, who should stand up to that injustice, fail or refuse to do so because it does not affect them or touches not their interest, their own time will come and when it comes, they will find no helper. This is the more reason, all stakeholders in a nation building process must stand up to institutionalisation of the administration of justice and it is only this way there can be sustainable political stability in Nigeria and, by extension, across Africa.
At any rate, for the second time, Nigerian system’s Wednesday February 29, 2023 affirmation of All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the Saturday February 25 election has been reiterated by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), despite attempted criminalisation of the same aggrieved parties asked to go to court and who simply went to court as required by democratic practice. For the reason of this re-affirmation, this time not by INEC but by court, we hold that all aggrieved Nigerians especially political parties and leaders directly involved should continue to toe the line of the law until the finality of court process is exhausted in the interest of the peace, security and economic growth and development of the country, Nigeria.
The DEFENDER, at this last but not the least point, calls for a complete review and reforms of the institution of electoral process in Nigeria because, there is no society that will have an electoral umpire behave like the present one does, hiding under “permitted use of discretion” while its legs are left bare in the outside, that can move forward with its election. And when a country does not get its election right, there can be no development let alone stability. This matters and it is a must-do as it is said, a stitch in time saves nine.
