Supreme Court Judgement Turned Nigerian Elections To War

What are the consequences of upholding the result of an election which the entire world saw was characterised by unprecedented violence, murders, beheadings, decapitation and incineration of human beings, even when the electoral law provides that such elections must be invalidated?

Is it remotely possible that none of our eminent Justices of the Supreme Court has ever heard of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2015 which Femi Falana (SAN) said legalised the use of card readers at elections? According to Falana, prior to the amendment, section 52 of the Electoral Act had prohibited the INEC from the use of any form of electronic voting.

But following the amendment of the provision, the INEC has been conferred with the power to determine the procedure to use for any election.

Specifically, section 52 states that “voting at an election shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission.” With the amendment of the law the INEC was on terra firma when it determined to use the card reader machine for the accreditation of voters for the 2015 general election.

As confirmation, Falana quoted a socially responsible Ogbuinya JCA who, in the case of APC v Kolawole Agbaje did not only pronounce but traced the genesis of the card reader when he said: “The evolution of the concept of smart card readers is a familiar one. It came to being during the last general election held in March and April, 2015 in Nigeria. On this core it is a nascent procedure injected into our infant and fledging electoral system to ensure credible and transparent election. 

Specifically, the erudite judge said, “it is aimed to concretise our fragile process of accreditation – the keystone of any suffrage”. 

With the above as background, what are Nigerians expected to believe when Governor Wike, in a moment of unguarded enthusiasm, committed the unreflecting gaffe at a Thanksgiving service that he owes his victory at the Supreme Court to former Governor Odili who we all know has a not inconsiderable relationship with the apex court – who served as his legal consultant, telling him where to go and who to meet, all of which he dutifully did? 

Or when, in a yet unrebutted allegation, Dr Dakuku Peterside claimed that Wike severally met with some members of the Supreme Court panel of Justices both here in Nigeria, and in faraway Dubai?

In a well-written article in the Tuesday, 22 March, 2016 edition of this newspaper, Joseph Uwua, a legal expert, could not help describing Supreme Court judgments as a cobweb of intrigues; a conclusion he then proceeded to prove with copious references to past decisions of the apex court.

If neither Uwua nor the columnist would have the temerity to accuse my Lord Justices of any underhand dealings in the Rivers governorship election case in which they reversed the decisions of the lower courts – it was a majority decision at the Appeal Court – matters of corruption in the Nigerian judiciary have been severally commented upon by those who should know. 

While the late Honourable Justice Kayode Esho, unarguably one of Nigeria’s most distinguished and honest judges ever, had cause to bemoan happenings at the election petitions tribunals through which he said some judges have become billionaires overnight, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, another stellar and distinguished legal mind, and Chairman Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria, could not hold back lamenting that “time was when a lawyer could predict the likely outcome of a case because of the facts, the law and the brilliance of the lawyers that handled the case. 

Today, things have changed and nobody can be sure. Nowadays, politicians would text the outcome of the judgment to their party men before the judgment is delivered and prepare them ahead of time for celebration.” 

Major -General Ishola Williams (Retd), Chairman of Transparency International (TI) Nigeria, a man widely believed to have the moral authority to speak on these things, not only corroborated these eminent legal authorities but went ahead to ask judges to challenge him if they can.

I am personally prepared to accept that the Lord Justices acted without being in any way compromised, knowing full well they are serving God and humanity and would one day be called upon to account for their actions. But then what are the consequences of upholding the result of an election which the entire world saw was characterised by unprecedented violence, murders, beheadings, decapitation and incineration of human beings, even when the electoral law provides that such elections must be invalidated?

What I am saying, in essence, is that with their decision, the Supreme Court has, unguardedly, endorsed violence as a legitimate tool in our elections. Elections in Nigeria have, ipso facto, been turned to a theatre of war. It is, indeed, a sad day, given the laudable achievements and mileage the INEC recorded under the sterling leadership of Professor

Jega in making elections far less prone to violence. These are milestones which the decision has completely wiped out as we saw in the rerun election in the same state this past week. Elections have again regressed to the analogue jungle in which voters registers are easily compromised. There are times I wonder if truly it is the law that is the ass when reflecting on many of the decisions in our courts, especially in election petition matters which the late Justice Esho said had turned many judges into instant billionaires. 

One also begins to wonder whether, unlike Ogbuinya JCA, some of these justices were somewhere extra-terrestrial, when the issues they are called upon to adjudicate, before God, happened. Who, in Nigeria, would not remember that Rivers State was suddenly transmogrified to a killing field ahead of, and during, the 2015 elections? Who, in this country can claim not to have heard how, in bright daylight, in Madam Patience Jonathan’s birthplace, the entire Dakuku campaign became fair game for thugs and militants who opened fire on that humongous body of humanity? Who could have forgotten how, acting on orders from above, security forces looked the other way as PDP thugs went on a killing spree, beheading, decapitating and torching the remains of APC members who they slaughtered in their tens and twenties? 

Okay, if legal aficionados would like to ask whether or not these issues were pleaded at the Supreme Court – and of course they were at the lower courts, shouldn’t we ask what constitutes the essence of law? Must it always, as in the instant case, be made to serve only the interests of the filthy rich, the influential and the connected? The dangerous consequences of that decision came to full bloom at the rerun elections last week. 

Consequent upon that Supreme Court judgment it will be extremely difficult to see, anywhere, a more violent electoral jurisdiction than Nigeria. Ahead of the elections, Governor Wike had severally threatened to kill and maim, advising some people to write their wills before coming. So violent were the elections that even as you read this, more than a whole week after, INEC has not been able to conclude the election process in about 8 Local Government Areas and as has become the norm in Rivers State, there were beheadings and killings aplenty, even of security personnel. I doubt if Governor Wike knows that all these do not ennoble him either as state governor or as the Chief Security Officer of the state.

He was, no doubt, emboldened by the Supreme Court decision which turned a blind eye to the killings and all the violent crimes that occurred during the general elections in the state in 2015. All things considered, it is necessary that all levels of courts be mindful of the social consequences of their decisions because for law to be truly law, it must serve the public good.