Supreme Court Oh Supreme Court!! Cry the beloved justice!

by Frisky Larr

If Nigeria is currently experimenting on the creation of a democratic tradition en route to political stability, then the Supreme Court – the country’s highest judicial instance – is fast becoming a tragic figure and a major impediment to the achievement of these objectives. The latest in its most recent chain of destructive judgments is no doubt, one that spells heinous disaster for the growth of justice in our beloved country. Unfortunately painful is the current reality that a large section of the country’s self-styled elite is still choosing to remain blinded by residues of emotional agitation against the immediate past President Olusegun Obasanjo rather than seeing the easily foreseeable long-term impact of these despicable pronouncements of the apex court.

It is becoming increasingly outrageous and damn right frustrating that an extremely low level of kindergarten judiciary is strongly taking hold of the process in Nigeria in broad daylight and before the very eyes of self-professed intellectuals and worse still, to the delight of same. The issue at stake is simple. A party (the Peoples Democratic Party) conducts its primaries. A candidate (Chibuike Amaechi) wins, perhaps convincingly too. Subsequently, the party withdraws the name of the winning candidate on grounds of criminal investigations (cooked up or not) against the candidate, who under such circumstances is correctly perceived as untenable. The candidate is substituted (perhaps, by the runner-up Celestine Omehia), who proceeds to win the election and is elected as Executive Governor of a Federal State.

Disagreeing with his own substitution, Mr. Amaechi rightly challenged the legality of his substitution in court. Not contending that he was robbed of victory as Gubernatorial candidate, it should be noted that his challenge is logically focused on being denied the right to contest the governorship race. Whether or not Mr. Amaechi would have ended up being elected Governor of Rivers State is, by virtue of logical comprehension, another issue altogether.

By all standards of democratic and judicial practice known all over the world, an election that is contested with the wrong and unqualified candidate is logically and characteristically null and void. In the best of scenarios imaginable to juristic novices like myself, such elections are either repeated or the race is awarded to the runner-up of the election.

Today however, the Nigerian Supreme Court is leaving no stone unturned, making outstanding negative history and a mockery of itself worldwide with a chain of illogical, irrational and outright outlandish judgments of far-reaching consequences on the democratic experiment. While a lower court of appeal (rightly or wrongly) dismissed the actions filed by Mr. Amaechi, the Supreme Court is not even saying that Mr. Amaechi should have been the rightful candidate and in effect fault the replacement of the candidate by the Electoral Commission at the request of his party, the Supreme Court through Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu is reported as saying categorically that Mr. Amaechi was indeed, the candidate himself and has therefore, declared Mr. Amaechi the new elected Governor of the state.

For God’s sake, how far more shall we proceed in this country with this raving avalanche of chicanery? A daylight abracadabra of turning green to white!

While debates may rage as to the legality of the candidate’s substitution, records have it that the Independent National Electoral Commission (biased or not, collaborating or not) was informed in writing by the home-party of Mr. Amaechi that Mr. Amaechi was mistakenly put forward as a candidate and presented a replacement. Records also have it that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) indicted Mr. Amaechi as former Speaker of the State Legislative chamber on charges of corruption. Now, the Supreme Court is reported as disowning the EFCC’s indictment on the grounds that only a court of law had the right to indict and bar candidates from election (Nigerian Tribune online, October 26th, 2007). While the court alone may have the undisputed power to bar candidates, there are questions as to the implication of the word “indictment”. In fact, the word “indictment” means nothing else than charging to court by the prosecuting instance. If the report of the Nigerian Tribune is accurate, the Supreme Court now seems to be adding a new dimension to the functions of the Nigerian courts of law namely, the power of prosecution.

It may be pertinent to recall a similar judgment in the recent past that allows for a split Presidency by granting a Vice President the right to swap parties while in office and comfortably be in diametrical opposition to the elected President. The laughters and jeers that greeted this judgment at the time from behind the scene in other solidified democratic environments could and can hardly be overheard, even today. The only thunderous applause came from within Nigeria itself. Another laughable judgment soon followed in the arbitrary and chaotic extension of the tenure of another unfortunate Governor that was cheated out of victory. The bottom line in all these cases, is the suspicion that someone somewhere is strongly bent on teaching the overpowering and perceived evil machinery of Olusegun Obasanjo (whose fingerprint is seen in all of these losing cases) an unforgettable lesson. Another controversial issue indeed, which (even though without proof) should in itself, have had nothing in common with the rule of law.

Given the reality that the practice of democracy is by no means a Nigerian invention, the question is fast gaining relevance if some Nigerian Judges should not be deployed for special training in constitutional law in conducive environments to seal a glaring loophole. Amateur and destructive judgments of this nature from the highest court of the land will definitely do democracy no good on the long run.

While acknowledging the truth that Mr. Amaechi (who on personal basis, should be congratulated for this manna from heaven) may well have been cheated out of contesting the governorship race, the duty of judicial institutions can and should not be that of a ruthless avenger á la Robin Hood. Like every arm of government in the separation of powers, the judiciary clearly has its limits. Occurrences in today’s Nigeria seem to be refusing to take any notice of the limits of judicial powers. Enlightened legal luminaries will surely appear anytime soon to provide their views on this outlandish judgment. Many learned voices will jubilate; many will lament the tragic course the judicial boat is sailing. The constitutional provision that grants the Supreme Court of Nigeria the authority to willfully award the office of State Governor to a person that did not contest the election in the first place, is yet to be discovered.

Granted the hypothetical legal tenability of the Supreme Court’s judgment, the underlying premise would be seen in the assumption that it was the party PDP that won the gubernatorial election in Rivers State not the candidate Celestine Omehia. In other words, it does not matter which candidate the party fields, the PDP was destined to win the election in Rivers state anyway. Refusing to field Amaechi as a candidate was thus denying him his predestinated victory under the canopy of the PDP. Democratic laws of nature teach us however, that this can be nothing other than a glaring poppycock product of the kingdom of Absurd’istan. There is no indication whatsoever that Mr. Amaechi would have been as acceptable a gubernatorial choice for the electorates as Mr. Omehia was. Awarding him the office of governorship through the back door by virtue of mere supreme pronouncement of some god-feeling justices is not only a rape of justice in excess of the powers of the Supreme Court, it is simply a fraud that is audaciously visited on the politically matured electorate in broad daylight.

In the absence of ruling in favor of fresh elections with Mr. Amaechi as the enforced PDP’s candidate, another logical ruling would have been to declare the defeated candidate of the opposition party in Rivers state as winner of the election since the PDP had a flawed selection process that should have rendered the PDP’s candidature invalid. These are alternatives that do sound quite plausible to me as a novice of jurisprudence.

Constitutional courts like the Supreme Court of Nigeria are usually made to seal constitutional loopholes as a short cut to the tedious legislative process of constitutional amendment. In today’s Nigeria however, the Supreme Court as a de facto Constitutional Court has ended up creating far more substantial constitutional problems for the country than it has ever done on the contrary.

The most embarrassing development however, is the emotional deafening applause given the pronouncements of the Supreme Court every step of the way by our pseudo-intellectuals, who simply do not seem to understand what jurisprudence and democracy is truly about.

And then we will all want to rise up in gallantry to prove Prof. Watson wrong?