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A SEAL ON HOPE?
ACE-Nigeria is very disappointed with the judgment of the presidential election petitions tribunal. Justice was clearly not done by that judgment. The tribunal shied away from dispelling “the burden of the heavy wrong” done to the voters in 2007 elections. At a time when the nation is overburdened by the weight of that wrong, all we could hear from the tribunal is nothing but jurisprudential inanities. In that judgment there is no flicker of hope in the power of the law to catch up with election riggers. That judgment is a loud statement against level playing field, equal opportunity and citizenship in the politics of public leadership. The judgment reminds the citizens of how profitable it can be to be dishonorable, unpatriotic and malevolent in public life. The 2007 sham elections “stand indicted in the court of public opinion and rejected by the hearts and minds of men and women of integrity”. The judgment is a castle of ice designed and crafted in the cold and icy chambers of the judges rather than in the hallowed chambers of justice and conscience. The judgment sounds like the executioners’ pronouncement on the Will of Obasanjo, Iwu and PDP to plunder the liberties and freedoms of our people. The judgment portends a bleak future for democracy in our country.
In terms of content and deliberative sophistication the judgment is of low quality. It has reversed the progress made through judicial pronouncements in recent times. It is worse than the 2003 judgment. At least the later pointed out how and where elections were rigged in 2003. The justices of the court of Appeal who presided over the presidential election tribunal succumbed to the old ways of doing things. They defied the wind of change in the judiciary and elected to thread the reactionary and decadent path. There was clear lack of depth and quality thinking through of evidence before the tribunal. The tribunal judges trivialized admitted and fundamental breaches of the Electoral Act by INEC as minute and inconsequential to the conduct of credible elections. It was clear that not even a tsunami on the election day would have amounted to an event of substance to these first time visitors to Nigeria that were called upon to act as judges of the Nigerian presidential election tribunal. We are not totally surprised at the overall disposition of the Court of Appeal to the growing wave of judicial activism in the country. In the run up to the 2007 general elections, the judges of the Appeal Court have by their rulings consistently given the impression that INEC is a master as well as a saint who can do no wrong.
We must however salute the courage of those judges who have keyed into the vision of a new Nigeria. There are judges that have so far berated INEC for abandoning its constitutional status of impartiality and neutrality to descend into the arena. There are judges who have so far decried “INEC’s haste in conducting elections where there existed no vacancy”. We salute the judges who ruled that the unilateral decision of INEC to exclude prince Audu from the April 14 elections was “unlawful, ultra vires, null and void and cannot stand”. We salute the judges who ruled that “INEC carefully planned, conceived and painstakingly excluded the petitioners” in the Adamawa governorship elections. We thank them for warning INEC to “be careful in its conduct during future assignments as they are using public funds in the conduct of elections”. Our heart is full of pride when we remember like in Israel that many Daniels have come to judgment in our land; like in America we have the Thurgood Marshals of our land; and like in India we have the Bagwatis of Nigeria.
The failure of the judgment of the tribunal on presidential elections to right the wrongs of 2007 elections has security implications for our dear country. It has placed judicial authority on the widespread belief that the only way to win elections in our country is by violence, vote buying, ballot box snatching, multiple thumb printing and the capture of INEC. Irresponsible politicians gloat over the fact that elections in Nigeria have always been rigged. Because they are in the league of those who are victorious in the rigging process they fail to recognize that rigging has always been associated with instability, bloodshed and debilitating social divisions. The Nigerian civil war, the Niger Delta crisis and the recent massacres in Kenya are recorded and standing examples of where the failure to right long standing injustice breeds insecurity.
This judgment has several implications one of which is its obvious attempt to seal the hope of a new Nigerian nationalism which is based on public accountability, equity, efficiency and authentic rule of law. The parties, the executive arm of government and the legislature have failed to provide sound and strong leadership in the construction of this new Nigerian nationalism. The judiciary has of recent become a major source of inspiration for this new nationalism. This judgment has the potential to deflate the courage of institutional leadership from the judiciary. It is likely to de-motivate judges superintending cases in the other election tribunals. The judgment is a major blow to the rebuilding of the moral community in our body politics. It shows that we are not ready to clear the evil forest of political irresponsibility. By this judgment it shows that our public institutions are not yet ready to reconvene the statesmen of our history who have the unction to fulfill the expectations of our time. The institutions are failing to “rekindle in our spirits the desire to strive once more for a great nation and dare for mighty things” for fatherland. The justices of the presidential tribunal are clearly not drawn to the idea of a new Nigeria. What a pity!
It is our fervent hope that under the intense beam of our collective national conscience and the individual conscience of the superior bench of the Supreme Court, the judgment of the presidential tribunal will be laid to waste.
However until the judgment of the Supreme Court comes, the tribunal on presidential elections is a sobering reminder to all that the judiciary is after all not the last hope of the common man. Now the people must seek their own solution to sovereignty. This nation needs to be mobilized by a new ideal of non violent people’s power. We must not allow this country to degenerate into a one party dictatorship or one man rule.
Emma Ezeazu
General Secretary
ACE-NIGERIA
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