Reviewing the Sokoto election petition saga
What has glaringly and of course persistently been left out in most of the analysis of the governorship election petition in Sokoto, at least from the ones I have read, is that they have either deliberately (as a way of wooing gullible minds or sometimes out of crass ignorance), refused to present before the reading […]
What has glaringly and of course persistently been left out in most of the analysis of the governorship election petition in Sokoto, at least from the ones I have read, is that they have either deliberately (as a way of wooing gullible minds or sometimes out of crass ignorance), refused to present before the reading public the other important side to the issue. This other side is the fact that, in addition to the pending matter before the Appeal Court in Sokoto, various other litigations had been entered at various fronts in both Abuja and Sokoto, out of desperation to grab power (as has become typical of most Nigerian politicians). Part of these, was of course, the pending matter of the 2007 election petition at the Supreme Court, filed by the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and for which the PDP lawyer, Chief Olanipekun (SAN) followed suit with a reaction. The folly of these scenarios is that these tendencies portend an ominous danger hanging on the country’s judicial processes, especially in the manner they are being pursued simultaneously. At least, it was in realisation of this that Chief Olanipekun (SAN) had cause to write the then President of the Court Appeal, Justice Umar Abdullahi, on the possible imminent judicial confusion and anarchy that might arise out of these various litigations being mounted simultaneously by the DPP.
Sadly, not quite too long, such confusions started to manifest, first, with the Court of Appeal, in Sokoto refusing to entertain a Motion on Notice filed by the PDP, seeking to make reference to section 295 of the Constitution and secondly, with the zeal by the same court to deliver its judgment on 23rd February, 2010. This thus, provoked questions not only on the propriety or otherwise of the court’s refusal to accommodate the Motion on Notice, but on the haste to dispose of the matter when it has up till April, 18th to do so.
The 23rd February 2010, judgment was aborted, following the intervention and instruction to stay action by the CJN, who incidentally is the Chairman of the NJC. This stems from the allegations of under-hand dealing lodged to the CJN as well as the NJC, against the panel of justices by one of the party to the dispute. While some have viewed the CJN’s intervention as administratively wrong, they have on the other hand, failed to appreciate the fact that the CJN, being the arrow head of the country’s highest court, indeed, has responsibility in preventing the looming anarchy that is unfolding. And perhaps, what most of these analysts have failed to capture is that, the CJN’s action might have derived from an inner knowledge of a subsisting matter at the country’s apex court between the said parties and which needed to be thrashed first before justice can be said to have been adequately served in this matter.
Since times past and particularly in our situation here, the inherent inadequacies of our courts and judicial system have given room to a situation where losers to whatever kind of dispute handled by our courts in most cases attribute their losses to the underhand dealings amongst court officials.
Commendable therefore, is the manner in which the CJN has instructed for NJC’s investigation into the above allegation, as is important not only to the integrity of the country’s judicial system but also to the fledgling democracy of our country. Secondly, what needs to be pointed out is that since the ultimate end of law is ensuring human existence and survival, our justice system needs to be dynamic and to this extent, be dictated (in addition to other principles) by the primacy of common sense, which emphasis must be public safety and by extrapolation, public interest and order (at least, this is what I found lacking in the second purported attempt at removing Governor Aliyu Magatakarda), rather than technicalities.
Ahmed is a lecturer in Kaduna Polytechnic, and can be reached through: abubakar_[email protected]