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DIFFERENT civil society organizations have urged labour unions and prominent Nigerians to ensure that the electoral process and national governance is not left in the hands of the judiciary.
The Nigerians mentioned on the document include Abubakar, Atiku Peter Obi, Labour party presidential candidate among others.
The CSOs, who are the petitioner, are represented by Prof Justin Akujieze of Ekwenche Research Institute, Chicago, USA, Emeka Umeagbalasi, criminologist researcher, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Aloysius Emeka Attah, Civil Liberties Organization, South-East Zone, Prof Jerry Chidozie Chukwuokolo and Ikenwoke Nwandu South-East Based Coalition of Human Rights and Democracy Organization.
A statement they all endorsed which was made available to Realnews on Sunday, November 26, stated that
“Nigerian Electoral Process And Public Governance Must No Longer Be Left In The Hands Of Judicial Officers, Electoral Umpire And Political Actors Alone.,”
It noted that “…involvement of regular court judicial officers in electoral matters has become a conduit pipe for judicial officers’ corruption and beyond the law lifestyles in Nigeria in the past 20 years”.
(It stated that “it has been investigated and found that removal of regular court judicial officers from electoral courts in Nigeria will cut down judicial officers’ corruption by 70%”.
The CBN also said that “non-active involvement of the above listed and petitioned ‘attentive public entities’ (non state democratic forces) in electoral process and public governance has turned judicial officers, electoral umpire and political actors in Nigeria into demigods and outlaws”.
It stated that the “industrial actions in Nigeria must be expanded to include ‘public interest and democratic content’ downing of tools for purposes of saving Nigerian Democracy and Electoral Process and taking back Judiciary, Electoral Umpire and Political Participation in particular”
She added: “Nigerian Government must be lawfully forced into fresh electoral and judicial reforms including:
“Professionalization and departmentalization of electoral courts
It stated that “Scrapping of Senate of the National Assembly and retention of “the House of Representatives” (unicameral legislature) with increase of reps seats not exceeding 500 which must include equitable constituency seat allocations using human population per square kilometer across the six geopolitical zones
“Removal of House of Reps (National Assembly) and State Houses of Assembly seats from political parties’ membership and affiliations for purposes of drastic reduction of money politics and corruption, quality representation and lawmaking and direct involvement of the electorates in the election of the lawmakers
“Legislative confirmation of the appointment of INEC Chair, National Commissioners and RECs; CJN, PCA, AGF, President of the Federal High Courts and the Chief Judge of the FCT by two-thirds of the constituency members (not members present) of the National Assembly (House of Reps) including two- thirds of the reps from each of the six geopolitical zones; and elimination of “simple majority” and legislative rubber-stamping of such appointees including “the bad and the ugly” among them
“,rongly opposing nomination of JCA Haruna Tsammani as a Supreme Court Justice and calling for thorough scrutiny of 21 others by the above listed and petitioned democratic forces
“we have successfully dragged Justice Haruna Tsammani and four other members of the 2023 PEPT to 70 world leaders for international blacklisting and visa blockage for officially indulging in acts capable of endangering democracy and its electoral process including political participation and attempting to bring the judiciary and judicial officers in Nigeria to local and international disrepute
“Come August 22, 2024 when the current CJN will mandatorily and statutorily leave office, we must not allow the appointment of an ‘anti democracy and anti rule of law enabler’ as next CJN and must not allow the appointing or ‘clearing’ authorities any space to impose any
“Come Oct 22, 2025 when the current INEC Chair will mandatorily and statutorily leave office, we must not allow an unapologetic and unrepentant promoter of election rigging and voter suppression as next INEC Chair and must not allow the appointing or ‘clearing’ authorities any space to impose any
According to it, “It has been investigated and found that if it is to be in China, the active players in the 2023 presidential poll and its judicial enquiries in Nigeria and those involved in the Imo’s Nov 11 2023 harvested and written Governorship results will be battling with life imprisonment trials for “political and national interest sabotage”.
Clarion Calls To Save Nigerian Democracy
The petitioned democratic forces above listed are seminally and persuasively called upon to save Nigerian Democracy before it becomes extremely late. Things have become so bad in Nigeria that “without foreign and domestic borrowings, the country runs the high risk of collapsing including Government’s day-to-day activities”. The resources to keep and maintain the army, the navy, the air force, the DSS, the NIA, the paramilitaries and the over-heads or running costs are substantially sourced from local and international consumptive borrowings. Without local and foreign borrowings, too, paying active workers and retired workers’ remunerations and maintenance of key infrastructures and social service deliveries and funding of capital projects, etc, will become impossible. A clear case in point was the proposed 2024 Nigerian Government Budget of N26trillion (roughly $26b), with N9trillion deficit and N7.8trillion new borrowings.
It is therefore our factual declaration that the electoral process including political participation and public governance in Nigeria are not the sole properties or businesses of the judicial officers, electoral umpire and political actors or a conduit pipe for personal enrichment; or a Columbian Medline Cocaine Cartel or the Cambodian Khmer Rouge’s “Big Brother Cartel”. The collective lukewarm attitudes and mundane approaches by the petitioned have turned the publicly hired mangers of Nigerian electoral umpire, judicial and political institutions into demigods and outlaws. Opposition political actors are also not helping matters when it comes to deepening democracy and rule of law in Nigeria; likewise the mainstream labor unions and their leaders that continuously allow issues over wages to dominate their industrial actions or downing tools. Quest for public governance through electoral process does not end in election rigging or installation of the rigged as the winner. The “break-and-quench” or “hit-and-run” approaches of the opposition political actors can never augur well or deepen democracy in Nigeria.
The present Government of Ahmed Bola Tinubu is holding our collective patrimony and destiny in trust and its actions including policies, programs and appointments must be proactively checkmated at all times through lawful means. We call on the petitioned above listed to set aside their religious differences and ethnic affiliations and lawfully rise to save the Nigerian Democracy including the inalienable rights of the Nigerian citizens to political participation and governance accountability. It is most sacrilegious for judicial officers to desecrate the electoral decisions and choices of members of the voting population through “the magic of judicial technicalities”. Cases in point are in Plateau, Zamfara and Kano where Governors and dozens of opposition lawmakers across the country; popularly chosen by majority of the voters have been pronounced ousted on technicalities and instructions of the powers that be. Voters, no matter their parties or faiths or tribes, must be allowed to choose their leaders.
Summed Up Findings On Judicial Officers’ Corruption In Nigeria
Breakthroughs recorded against corrupt public officers and institutions in Nigeria were gravely damaged from 2010 when Dr Goodluck Jonathan became a replacement President. He had grown under the political tutelage of former Bayelsa Gov and court-declared corrupt public office holder, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha whom he deputized from 1999-2005. It must also be remembered that the gateway into judicial officers’ corruption in recent Nigeria was the “Alu-Gate”/“Salami-Gate” of 2010/2011. As at 2003, electoral matters contributed about only 15% of judicial officers’ corruption and rose to about 20% in 2009; 30% in 2010/2011 and about 40% as at June 2015. From July 2015 under Retired Major Gen Muhammad Buhari and Prof Yemi Osinbajo central Government, electoral matters skyrocketed judicial officers’ corruption to 70% till this Nov 2023. Involvement of regular court judges in electoral matters (both pre and post electoral matters) has been found to have entrenched intractable corruption among judicial officers; to the extent that “Magistrates now scramble for inclusion in electoral courts despite not being “Judicial Officers of Record”. The involvement of regular court judges have also reshaped the lifestyles of the judicial officers and elevated them to “larger than life lifestyles” and made them highly vulnerable to DSS security checks during which it is very difficult to find many of them living within their statutory remunerations including salaries and allowances and commensurate lifestyles. The above is to the extent that, some say, out of every five judicial officers said to have been scrutinized by DSS or spy others, they are hard to be found living within their lawful remunerations and lifestyles.
Time Has Come To Remove Regular Court Judges From Electoral Courts
It has been investigated and found that the involvement of regular court judicial officers in electoral matters has become a conduit pipe for judicial officers’ corruption and beyond the law lifestyles in Nigeria in the past 20 years and if they are removed from electoral courts in Nigeria, it will cut down judicial officers’ corruption by 70%. Time has also come for professionalization and departmentalization of the Judiciary. There shall be ‘Special Electoral Courts” under two-three-step arrangements; to be manned by reputable legal practitioners with at least ten years in the Bar and backgrounds in electoral and human rights laws and constitutionalism. Their tenure shall be a five year single tenure. The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the NBA and the NJC shall be empowered to ensure such appointments to be accordingly approved by the National Assembly. There shall also be established “Criminal Courts” and “Civil Litigation Courts” in Nigeria; with the former manned by legal experts (jurists) in Criminal Laws, Penology, Victimology, Juvenile Laws, Criminology (including Criminal Statistics and Pathology) and their likes.
A.
-Nov. 27, 2023 @ 07:56 GMT |
Tags: Ahmed Bola Tinubu Aloysius Emeka Attah Haruna Tsammani INEC Prof Jerry Chidozie Chukwuokolo Prof Justin Akujieze
