Opinion
By Steve Osuji
CAN the judiciary hold out? Can the Supreme Court stand the test of time especially as a crucial election approches. Nigerians are already apprehensive that the apex court is not quite at its noblest season going by its most recent calls.
This fear is corroborated by the recent rulings in the senatorial candidacy matters between three APC members.
Three All Progressives Congress big guns: Ahmad Lawan (sitting Senate President) Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and Mr Godswill Akpabio, erstwhile minister of Niger Delta Affairs, have recently connived to bare the buttocks of Nigeria’s judicial system as represented by the Supreme Court.
These Men of little scruples had elected to eat their cakes and have it. The trio contested primary elections of the APC as Presidential aspirants on June 8, 2022. Upon failing to win the big ticket, they returned to wrench the senatorial tickets in their districts from the poor winners. This is the crux of this case. Note that the primary elections for the Senate seat was held earlier before the presidential.
How in the world could one politician contest in two primary elections within one month? The new electoral law is also very unambiguous about this matter of one aspirant contesting in multiple primary elections in a season. This practise used to be rampant, causing confusion in the system until the law was recently amended to correct the anomaly.
But three chieftains of the ruling APC still managed to subvert this law using the instrumentality of the Supreme Court.
Here goes the story in a nutshell: Ahmad Lawan, the sitting Senate President, representing Yobe North District of Yobe State was aspirant for APC senatorial primary election slated for May 2022. Midway during electioneering, he withdrew and joined the presidential contest.
Lawan failed woefully in the bid for the presidential ticket. He was suddenly faced with the prospect of not returning to the senate where he had sat tight since 1999. So he connived with some dubious party exco and a kangaroo primary was conducted on June 9th, exactly one day after he crashed out of the presidential race. Pronto, the name of the authentic candidate, Bashir Machina was yanked by APC officials and substituted with the name of Lawan Ahmad.
Machina kicked, went to court. The election umpire, INEC, weighed in that it wasn’t aware of any other primary besides the first. The Federal High Court in Damaturu, Yobe State ruled that Machina was the authentic candidate having won the legally recognised primary supervised by INEC.
Lawan and his APC roughnecks proceeded to the Appeal Court, Abuja. Ruling, a 3-member panel led by President Court of Appeal Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen dismissed Lawan’s appeal as lacking in merit.
She said the “Appeal was an abuse of court process as Lawan didn’t participate in the primary. “
Unyielding, Lawan and APC approached the apex court. In a split decision of 3 to 2 members, the panel ruled in favour of Lawan. Standing on a fuzzy technical ground, Justice Centus Nweze upbraided Machina for not originating his suit by a writ of summons going by the allegation of fraud levelled against APC.
However, the two dissenting Justices, Adamu Jauro and Emmanuel Agim were full of hard words for Lawan and the APC, saying that the so-called primary that threw Lawan up was an “illegal contraption and a ruse.”
The sordid story of Ahmad Lawan is exactly the same as Dave Umahi, the sitting governor in Ebonyi State and Godswill Akpabio a federal ministry until June last year.
In the case of Umahi, he fronted his younger brother, Austin Umahi in the APC senatorial primary as a placeholder. Soon as he lost his bid for presidential ticket, little brother Austin made way for big brother to grab the senatorial ticket.
But the runner-up, Princess Ann Agom-Eze went to court. The two lower courts upheld her position until the matter got to the supreme Court, the Golgotha of Nigeria’s judiciary… and the matter was brazenly awarded to the big man, Gov. Dave Umahi.
In the case of Godswill Akpabio, after the Federal High Court had ruled against him, he didn’t border to enter any arguments in the appeal court until time lapsed. Of course, there’s no prize for guessing that he and his APC rogues had already settled the matter upstairs at the Supreme Court.
Regardless, Hon. Justice Danlami Senpchi JCA, in ruling against Akpabio wondered how he could have contested in APC senatorial and presidential primaries at the same time. Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Udom Ekpoudom, who won the first and authentic primary.
But a five-member Supreme Court panel led by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun unanimously awarded Akpabio Senatorial ticket, it’s logic being that the lower court had no locus to handle issues pertaining to party primaries.
Nigerians have been seething with outrage since the apex court awarded these cases to Lawan, Umahi and Akpabio. It seems to have confirmed their worst fairs about their current Supreme Court: it is a continuation of the Tanko Ibrahim Muhammad’s infamous era whuch is considered as probably the worst season in the history of the number one court.
With Olukayode Ariwoola, JSC, replacing Tanko as Chief Justice, Nigerians thought a new era had come. But these senatorial ticket rulings have dashed any hope of a noble time at the Supreme Court.
What we have in the cases of Lawan, Umahi and Akpabio is synchronised assault on justice and common good of a nation. This is premeditated onslaught that has seared the soul of a nation.
We have a situation where the lower courts were upright and fearlessly in upholding simple, straightforward justice and we see our Supreme Court turning both law and justice on their heads. The action of the justices of the apex court only leads to one conclusion: compromise of a blatant and naked kind.
In a case that presents a historic opportunity for the Supreme Court to take a supreme stand that would elevate the court and the judiciary, they fell flat on their faces.
Nigerians expected the Court to censure the rascally, grasping politicians and indeed, commit them to prison to imbue sanity in the political system, but our justices chose the path of infamy.
By this orchestrated senatorial ticket rulings, this Supreme Court has clearly revealed that it’s a mere appendage of the rogue ruling party, APC. It has proved that it must not be trusted to act with a modicum of honour, grace or nobility when moments demand such virtues.
To cut the long story, this Supreme Court is the same gang that was deployed by APC to subvert democracy in Imo State in January, 2020. It is indeed a dangerous organ of State that must not be trusted.
Tags: Ahmad Lawan Governor Dave Umahi Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen Mr Godswill Akpabio ustices
