Still on that Borno guber verdict

It was a battle in which a tender and weak David faced a big all conquering Goliath, who believes that might is right. Given the harrowing experiences, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, and his youthful team went through, one can safely say, Justice Walter Samuel’s mid morning verdict was a big relief. The Supreme Court […]

It was a battle in which a tender and weak David faced a big all conquering Goliath, who believes that might is right. Given the harrowing experiences, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, and his youthful team went through, one can safely say, Justice Walter Samuel’s mid morning verdict was a big relief. The Supreme Court had rescued this particular case on three occasions.   The Court of Appeal had attempted to stand justice on its head on each occasion, first by granting a dubious injunction, stopping the trial tribunal’s verdict and on the other, by disbanding the tribunal, and yet on another occasion ordering a retrial, even when it was clear that the matter had been caught up with time.

Since the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for Borno state was stopped from delivering its judgment on the verbal orders of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu, wherein he dissolved the panel of judges hearing the matter, many were not surprised at the court of appeal judgment that followed since the matter eventually came before it again. The earlier Court of Appeal ruling which on September 20 arrested the planned ruling of the same tribunal; seems to have paved way for the contemptuous conduct of that court in the whole imbroglio. The Supreme Court’s ruling which followed, to the effect that, no court has the jurisdiction to arrest the judgment of an election tribunal thereby ordering parties in the Borno matter to return to the trial tribunal for judgment seem to have also sent a clear signal to the court below that there was no room for any sort of rascality in a matter as sensitive as the Borno case.

It was a rather curious development, that, the Supreme Court has to be reminding the Appeal Court that its pronouncements as they affect the Borno governorship election petition was tending towards an embarrassing development. It was obvious that in each case, the Appeal Court seemed to be acting out a written script, wherein, there was a seeming desperation by the authors of the script, to get Kashim Shettima out by any means, including through a judicial acrobatics. Until Nigerians began to ask very curious questions, the stage seemed set to achieve that objective, if only to justify the huge sums being collected from various stakeholders in the guise of prosecuting the case.

Nigerians for example were asking questions as to who could be afraid of the yet to be delivered ruling of the Borno State Governorship election petition tribunal at that stage of the case? Could the president of the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment of the Supreme Court, the apex court in the country, and go ahead to disband the panel of judges through verbal orders? Is history repeating itself reminiscent of the Sokoto election tribunal? Is the Nigerian judiciary shooting itself on the leg again? Is the President of the Court of Appeal acting out a script, or acting in error? These inquiries may have compelled the quick reversal of his orders.

Lawyers and laymen alike, who thronged the premises of the Supreme Court on Friday, February 17, were initially apprehensive, but later got a big relief when the verdict was handed down. Many of the people in court on that day were not even aware that it was all over. The verdict did not come in the usual thunderous barks of the judge; rather, it came in a lucid straight forward diction, devoid of any legalese.   PDP lawyers and supporters who had hoped for a repeat of the Appeal Court drama were disappointed, and quietly sneaked out of the Supreme Court premises. Without sounding immodest one can deduce from the Supreme court judgment that Nigerians may have been saved from yet another round of judicial absurdities, the type which may have left a very deep scar on the psyche of those who look up to the judiciary as the last hope of the weak and poor.

Being in the opposition, with apparently no godfathers in government, Governor Kashim and indeed the people of Borno state had relied on God and the truth. The Supreme Court may have come to the timely rescue of this very promising leadership in Borno State under Kashim Shettima by divine instruction. With the presidency apparently having effectively hijacked the judiciary, where judgments may be determined at the whims and caprices of some tin gods, the verdict by the Supreme Court will for a long time remain a reference case worth citing in electoral disputes. The panel of judges will also serve as role models for many lawyers, especially those with the hope of attaining the position of judges in future.

Saleh Galadima contributed this piece from Area II, Garki, Abuja.