Judgment, good for democracy - Nigerians in S/Africa

Our Reporters - 27.02.2008

Some Nigerians in South Africa on Tuesday reacted to the judgment of the presidential election petition tribunal upholding President Umaru Yar'Adua, describing it ''good for democracy.''

President of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), Mr. Kenneth Ayere, hailed the judgment, saying it was good for the political stability of the country.

"The tribunal's judgment is a welcome development and good for the political stability of the country,'' he told the Southern Africa correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

"With the President's avowed respect for the rule of law, the judgment should see him settling more into the business of governance,'' he said.

The PDP chairman in South Africa, Chief Frank Anagu, also lauded the judgment and advised the petitioners to accept the verdict in the interest of the country.

Also reacting to the judgment, a former lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Kole Omotosho, advised the Federal Government to put in place credible electoral body that people could trust.

"It is not whether the judgment is bad or good, the issue in Nigeria is basically lack of credible supervisory institutions,'' he said.

Nigerians in North America were not left out in the euphoria of the presidential petitions tribunal judgment which upheld the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua as they monitored the verdict live on the Internet, the television and by telephone conferencing, Empowered Newswire has reported.

As early as 4.00 a.m. United States eastern standard time, US-based Nigerians started listening to the court ruling by phone courtesy of a Washington DC-based website, Nigerianmuse.com which facilitated a direct audio feed of the NTA live coverage into the phone lines.

According to Professor Mobolaji Aluko, a US-based university lecturer and the publisher of Nigerianmuse.com, quite a number of Nigerians called in to the phone line which started running as early as 4:00 a.m US time. Empowered Newswire also monitored the verdict on the telephone conference line.

In North America, such facilities of telephone conferencing has become very popular with various options available mainly for free as provided by different Internet companies which make their money from adverts and the number of callers using the facility.

In setting up the phone conference, Aluko sent out emails to hundreds of Nigerians on the Internet offering the service which he called ”Un-abridged Audio Feed from the NTA" requiring callers to call into telephone numbers specified in the US and enter a Bridge Number Callers bore the cost of the calls on the regular phone bills.

On jumptv.com, a video feed of the ruling was also available and several Nigerians including Aluko and another US- based university administrator, Dr. Baba Adam, alerted several US-based Nigerians to the availability of the video feed online.

A presumably larger number of Nigerians also watched the proceedings on NTA on their TV sets in the US by satellite.

The European Union (EU) said on Tuesday that the ruling on the validity of President Yar’Adua’s election would further confirm the independence of the judiciary.

EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Robert Meulen, said this during the donation of digital court recording equipment worth over $30 million to the Nigerian Judiciary Institute.

He noted that the judiciary had been in the limelight of the democratic process and had diligently fulfilled its mandate by showing commendable independence.

“This builds public confidence and strengthens the demand for improved electoral processes and democratic development,’’ Meulen said.

He explained that though the EU was collaborating with Nigeria to entrench good governance in its polity, its findings during elections had raised some shortcomings.

“We hope an open and peaceful debate within the legal framework will help Nigeria improve its future elections,” Meulen said.

Earlier, EU Senior Project Coordinator, Mr. Tony Buckingham, said the equipment would help the institution to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute economic and financial crimes.

“The equipment will also enhance regard and observance of the rule of law and human rights,” he said.

According to Buckingham, the equipment would assist courts in the pilot states to gradually eliminate manual recording of proceedings.

He listed the pilot states as Borno, Delta, Lagos, Katsina, Anambra, Benue, Enugu, Rivers, Kaduna, and the FCT.

Responding, the administrator of the institute, Justice Timothy Oyeyipo, said the country was witnessing bold and unprecedented steps in the justice sector reform process.

“The reform is crucial to ensure sustenance of constitutional democracy which guarantees the rights and freedoms of citizens and their concomitant responsibilities,” he said.