A predetermined judgment
The recent judgment
by the presidential
election tribunal came to many perspective Nigerians as a rude shock. It is the weakest and perhaps the most compromised judgment ever delivered in the history of the country. The judgment is weak in logic, weak in sequential order, weak in content, weak in delivery, and indeed in all ramifications.
The judges did not evaluate the evidences before them. They had made up their minds right from the commencement of the case, to uphold the questionable election of Umaru Yar’Adua as the president of Nigeria.
For those of us that went to court to observe proceedings, it was evident that, the judges were not only hostile but were in a haste to dismiss the application which General Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar brought before them.
This election that was given a pass mark had been described by local and international observers as the worst in the history of Nigeria. The election was even compared to elections in Somalia and Mongolia. In fact, the observers said very emphatically that the election fell short of the standards which Nigerians set for themselves.
And both petitioners, in this case Buhari and Atiku went to court with a plethora of evidence, which include, video clips of how soldiers and policemen were used in various places to drive away voters, and cart away ballot papers, of how security agents were thumb printing for PDP candidates, evidences of alterations on various INEC forms, letter that Iwu wrote to the mint that ballot papers must not be serialised, and so many other details of electoral malpractices from virtually all the states of the federation. Yet, these judges never took any of these into consideration while writing their ruling.
For a person like me both Mr Mike Ahamba and Professor Alfed Kasumu convinced me and several others beyond all reasonable doubts that the election was fundamentally flawed to warrant its cancellation.
In fact, the Transition Monitoring Group described the verdict of the presidential election tribunal upholding President Umaru Yar’Adua’s election as a disaster. The former Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum, Col Hameed Ali (rtd), also condemned the judgment, saying democracy is doomed in Nigeria with this judgment. Alhaji Balarabe Musa has equally given a thumb down to the judgment describing it as a travesty of justice, just in the same way, Femi Falana, Fred Agbaje and Tam David West have roundly condemned the judgment.
This, no doubt, is not the kind of judgment the country wanted.
But come to think of it, when people say the judiciary is the bastion of hope for the masses, it is not the judiciary per se, but the Supreme Court. Nothing really good has come out of the lower courts. And, this is exemplified by the judgments on Peter Obi, Godwin Araraume and Rotimi Amaechi, in all cases, the Supreme Court against all expectation, but in the spirit of fairplay, justice and equity ruled in their favour. So, there is no doubt whatsoever that the Supreme Court in the consideration of the appeal by Buhari and Atiku will be firm, thorough and perspicacious.
Jide Ayobolu,
Lagos.
|
Between legal justice and posterity
As the Presidential
Elections Petition
Tribunal delivered its judgment on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, one thing that stuck to my mind in those four long hours was: can these judges in some years to come boldly declare that they have done the right thing?
Chief Ahamba, Counsel to General Muhammadu Buhari captured the essence of the day when he told the court after the judgment that “conscience is a bag that everybody carries”.
If only it were allowed, we would have asked the judges where they voted in the day of the presidential election and how the election was conducted in their localities.
Since our judges are from the moon and did not see any evil on the election day, the people of Nigeria leave them to their conscience, that is, if they have any.
It is important to remind them and the lawyers to INEC and President Yar’Adua, that their judgement on the charade called April 2007 elections will shape future elections in Nigeria, especially if it receives the seal of the Supreme Court or if General Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar succumb to the pressure not to appeal the controversial judgement.
The court has given INEC a blank cheque on the administration of election such that by 2011, INEC may give us toilet papers as ballot papers and no court will fault the election on that ground. Next time, INEC can exclude a candidate until 24 hours to the election and as long as his name is printed on fake ballot papers, he will be deemed as having contested the elections.
However, as Abubakar Rimi said on his conviction for corruption in 1985, “there is the justice of the court and there is the justice of posterity”. What we had that Tuesday was justice of the court designed to please PDP, INEC and their lawyers. The judgement of posterity will come on every body at God’s own time and in that, even the justices of the court will stand in the dock!
Muhammadu Sambo,
Sabon Gari,
Zaria.
|
