Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris has confirmed that there are enough police men and women to adequately deal with an upsurge of community clashes, killings and other civil and criminal activities across the country. Answering reporters’ questions today, Friday after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the police boss said: “I cannot say Nigeria is under-policed.” He emphasised that the police “cannot be overwhelmed” by the spate of crises that are being witnessed in many parts of the country. He confirmed that the discussion he had with the President was how to have effective security of the Nation. On the crisis in Benue state and herdsmen killings of over 50 people, Ibrahim said that he had already deployed a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police to the affected areas to take care of the situation. He said that the DIG would work with an Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of police already in the state, together with the Commissioner of Police in the state to address “this issue of community problems in Benue.” He insisted that the crisis in Benue state is a communal misunderstanding. “Obviously, it is communal crisis; herdsmen are part of the community. They are Nigerians and are part of the community are they not?” The IGP assured that with the joint efforts of relevant security operatives, the recent crisis in Benue would not repeat itself. “I think what we should be praying for is for Nigerians to learn to live in peace with each other. I think it is very important.”[myad]
Former Nigerian Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has vehemently protested against allegation by a Tiv elder, Chief Paul Unongo that he (Atiku) is the chief financier of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria. In a statement today, Friday, in Abuja, the media adviser to the former Vice President, Mazi Paul Ibe said: “let it be known that though Waziri Adamawa is a Fulani, he is not a member of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria nor has he ever been a member. He has also never discussed about that group with Chief Paul Unongo. “Yes, Waziri Atiku Abubakar is a Fulani and proud to be one and has never hidden that fact. However, the Waziri is a thoroughly detribalized Nigerian that would never favour one ethnic group over another.” The statement said that it is very disheartening that in this period of intense grief in Benue State, Chief Paul Unongo would choose to level these desperately sad and false allegations on the person of Atiku Abubakar whom he erroneously described as the chief financier of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria. The statement recalled that last year during the massive flood in Benue State which affected over 100,000 families, Atiku, “who holds the Tiv traditional title of Zege Mule U Tiv, donated cash to the Benue State Government for the care of the victims. “This is fitting for a man whose Tiv traditional title means ‘the biggest shade of the Tiv people’. “It is strange that Chief Paul Unongo chose to neglect that act of love and care from the Waziri Adamawa to the people of Benue. Not only did the Zege Mule U Tiv make a financial donation, he also called on the Federal Government to do more to assist the flood ravaged communities.” It noted that the same Atiku is the one that had enjoin that a thorough investigation be made into the killings in Benue, and that anyone found culpable be made to bear the full weight of the law. “Having said that, it has not escaped our notice that Chief Paul Unongo is the Chairman, Governing Board of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), a position he was appointed to in April of last year. “Understandably, Chief Unongo would be very grateful to those who gave him such a position and may feel it is his duty to attack and sully those in their bad books. “If that is the case, it would be a very sad day when a supposed elder chooses to make mileage of the sufferings of the people of Benue State who have had to endure the impunity of these killings for far too long.”
Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello has sworn to high heaven that as at today, he is not owing workers in the state. He stressed that with the N1.2 Billion which President Muhammadu Buhari approved to be given as part of the Paris Club refund, together with N10 billion he borrowed and the November/December allocation, he was able to clear four months at a stretch before Christmas and some left over (of salaries) were cleared before this January in Kogi State. Answering reporters’ questions at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after observing Jum’at (Special Friday) prayer besides President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Yahaya Bello said: “in Kogi State today, we are up to date as far as salary is concerned. In the month of December, like Mr. President magnanimously assisted us with another tranche of Paris Club Refund, our own figure was N1.2 billion and some other change on top. “We didn’t just stopped at that. We borrowed up to N10 billion and we added November/December allocation to our figures and we were able to clear four months at a stretch before Christmas and some left over were cleared before this January in Kogi State. “As you all know, the salary was very bogus and according to the figure we had, we were able to distribute it among these months. So, glory to God as far as Kogi State is concerned.” The governor said that henceforth, his government would place emphasis on what he called ‘clock-in device’ for every civil servant in the state; both at local and state levels. “So that as you come to work and clock-in, that is exactly how your salary will end generated. “It is online. It is automated, so nobody is going to cheat anybody. That is how we are going to go in the state, so Kogi state civil servants, pensioners are all happy with this administration. “Thanks to God and Mr. President for this magnanimity.”[myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has warned Customs and Ports officials not to frustrate the smooth operations of the newly commissioned Inland Dry Port in Kaduna. He emphasised the need for the officials to make the facilities at the Port work “and not to frustrate business, commercial and industrial enterprises with unnecessary bureaucracy and inflicting on them delays and hardships, thereby defeating the object of the whole exercise as has happened in the past. Make these facilities work this time.” The President spoke today, Thursday, in Kaduna when he commissioned the Dry Port which he said, hinterland business community had waited for for too long. He said that such facility has tremendous potentials to ease the way of doing international business for the interior based importers and exporters. According to Buhari, the Development of Inland Dry Ports is an important factor in the nation’s economic development efforts. “As Ports of origin for exports and ports of destination for imports, the Inland Dry Ports will accelerate the implementation of our economic diversification policy. “The concept of Inland Dry Port has gained widespread importance with the tremendous changes in international transportation as a result of the container revolution and the introduction of door-to-door delivery of cargo. It provides importers and exporters located within the nation’s hinterland, especially industrial and commercial outfits, access to shipping and port services without necessarily visiting the seaports. “It also enables them to process clearance of their import cargo and take delivery of their raw materials and machinery close to their places of business. “Furthermore, the Inland Dry Ports will also provide our exporters the much needed facilities to process, package, consolidate and forward their exports to their customers all over the world without having to physically be at the seaports. “This replicates the port economy in the various centres where the Dry Ports are located inland thereby generating employment and contributing to the ease of doing business. Buhari said that in addition to the Kaduna Inland Dry Port, six other Inland Dry Ports in Ibadan, Aba, Kano, Jos, Funtua and Maiduguri, which have also been gazetted, are at various stages of completion.” The President congratulated the Kaduna State Government, the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Nigerian Shippers’ Council and the hinterland importers and exporters on what he called “this epoch making occasion.” He also commended the initiative of Nigerian Shippers’ Council towards promoting the provision of the modern transport infrastructural facilities even as he advised the Concessionaires of the other six Dry Ports to emulate the Concessionaires of the Kaduna Dry Port by accelerating work on theirs “so that, in the next few months, they too can be commissioned. “With the full complement of the seven Dry Ports, congestion at the seaport and traffic gridlock in the port complex will be eliminated. Consequently, the cost of transportation and therefore cost of doing business will be reduced.” He called on all relevant stakeholders across the public and private sectors, particularly Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Shipping Companies and Agencies, Seaport Terminal Operators, Clearing and Forwarding Agents, Road Haulers and importers and exporters to utilize the facility optimally. [myad]
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has made it clear to Enugu Christian cleric, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka that government and election are not run on prophesies.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement responding to Mbaka’s prophesy warning President Muhammadu Buhari not to contemplate seeking for a second tenure in 2019, said that anyone who feels the prophecies are true was at liberty to believe, but that the APC will only act on what is politically correct not prophecies
“We cannot run a political party by prophecy. Prophecy is a matter of personal conviction or personal belief.
“The party cannot act based on any kinds of prophecies because we are not operating on that. We only act based on what is politically correct. People are free to believe such prophecies but our party will not act or take critical decisions based on prophecies.” [myad]
A Kwara State born female Professor of Language and Communication Arts at the Rivers State University of Education, Olufumilayo Adesanya-Davies, has announced her intention to contest the 2019 presidential election. She did not mention the political party under which she will contest.
Professor Adesanya-Davies, who spoke to news men on Tuesday in Ilorin, Kwara State capita, said that she had already consulted widely before making her intention public.
She said that she was encouraged by the Federal Government decision to make application forms free for women aspirants, adding: “I am aspiring to be the next president of Nigeria and I am out to put laughter of joy on the mouth of all.
“I have discussed this with the former presidential candidate, Sarah Jubril, who incidentally is from Kwara state. Her reaction was that ‘if a miracle like this will ever happen, we have paid the price in Kwara state and it is going to happen in the state.
“She said that Nigeria has opened the ground for Nigerian women, adding that my ticket is that of Nigeria, as the presidential form is free for women.
“Historically, we will recall in 2015 another woman presidential candidate came. She floated a party called the KOWA party. Her name is Professor Remi Sonaya. She was my lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo Univerity (OAU).
“2015 was when I first thought about being a presidential aspirant. This is for the main reason that I was born October 15th and I got married at October 15th.
That time I said that with President Goodluck Jonathan in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) I was going to be his running mate. I was sending text messages to him. I told him to let Vice President Nnamadi Sambo step down for him to be successful but he did not listen to me.
“But delay is not denial, that is why I am staging a comeback. I have done some consultations.
“The first person to put a call through was Patience Jonathan. I told her that I am picking the presidential form this time around and she endorsed my decision.
“Our first thanks will go to the nation- Nigeria that says the ladies could pick our forms politically at every levels. Nigeria is confident that the current challenges in the country can only be tackled by the women.
“However, we are still keeping the party under which place we will aspire under close wraps.
Later on, I will be announcing that through the press. We don’t have a platform yet. We are just saying that officially, this is a presidential aspirant for 2019 and later we will take it to the next level.
“As time goes on and we are taking counsel from the youths, the family, mothers and the children we will declare on which platform the next first female president will be coming from.”
On Buhari, Prof Adesanya-Davies said: “The test of maturity is taking responsibility for your irresponsibility. You take a decision and you gonna allow it to sail through. A four month old preganancy cannot be delivered.
“You have to be patient and quietly allow for delivery for nine months. We were the one that did the voting, we accepted the change and now the change is here.
“I will advise Nigerians to calm down for President Muhammadu Buhari. Also the man too is not sleeping. He is not resting. Age too is not on his side. We did all the mathematics and we saw it and opted for it.
“So that he had to travel for 100 days to take care of his health is not his fault. It is age and we said we believe in him.
“Major problem with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is that it does not want to do literature review. We in the academics always build from where we are coming from for finished and unfinished projects.
“Buhari’s governance had to take positive reminiscences to Goodluck Jonathan. An old man cannot combine minister for petroleum ministry with the presidency and it will work. We need them to work hard and get the technocrats to do their jobs again,” she said.
Managing Director of BUA Company, Obu Cement Company, Yusuf Binji,
The Nigeria Police have declared the Managing Director of BUA Company, Obu Cement Company, Yusuf Binji, wanted over an attack on the convoy of the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
A statement from the police today, Thursday, said that some officials of the Edo State Government who were on the convoy of the Edo State Governor were also attacked.
The statement did not give details but source hinted that the attack was not unconnected to the ongoing feud between BUA Company and Dangote Group over the mining site in Edo State, to which the governor has since ordered work on the site to be halted.
It was learnt that despite the governor’s order, the wanted Managing Director of BUA continued with the work on the site.[myad]
Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has started thinking of quitting politics and his avowed Presidential ambition for the 2019 election to enable him take to Christian evangelism and pastoral works.
In a statement today, Thursday, by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor, said he had the premonition of becoming a great evangelist with a big ministry.
Adelusi quoted the governor as saying: “I am Peter the rock who presently is a fisher of men for politics, but who God has destined to end up as a fisher of men for God.” However, Fayose, who is also the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, was silent on whether he would go back to the denomination where his late father, Pastor Olufemi Oluwayose, played a prominent role.
It was learnt that his father was a cleric in the Christ Apostolic Church, while he currently attends the Deeper Life Bible Church. On his incessant criticisms of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, Fayose said everything was being done in good faith, saying: “my criticism of President Buhari is not out of hatred, but to lead to making the necessary corrections. When a driver is driving dangerously and you are sitting in the vehicle, you have to call him to order, otherwise, both of you will perish.
“President Buhari should allow the country to move forward. Age is not on his side and is also not a plus for him. Anybody calling on him to contest again is his enemy and not doing him any good. Moreover, such a call is a great disservice to our country.
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has disclosed that no fewer than 148,533 million litres of fuel were diverted by unscrupulous elements during the December fuel crisis.
Speaking today, Thursday, at an investigative public hearing by a Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Petroleum Downstream, at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, Baru said that during the period, NNPC could not track the movement of 4,501 trucks representing the quantity of the products that disappeared.
“Due to massive diversion, hoarding, panic buying and smuggling, coupled with the information that three Direct Sales Direct Purchase Consortia had rejected October cargoes, there was insinuation of a supply gap.”
The NNPC boss revealed that during the period, the Corporation was unable to track through its Aquilla tracking scheme, the whereabouts of the affected trucks thus concluding that the products were diverted.
Baru listed some of the key factors responsible for the fuel crisis, including insufficient reserve, clearance speed, supply gap, diversion, hoarding, panic buying and smuggling.
He said that prior to the crises, NNPC had 1.9 billion litres strategic reserve of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which would have lasted for 53 days but that due to panic buying, diversion and hoarding, the Corporation was unable to cope with the daily consumption of 37 million litres of PMS, which led to the presence of long queues at petrol stations across the country.
He said that as a result of the crisis NNPC took some urgent steps to resolve the scarcity which included but not limited to the immediate activation of war room, additional imports to increase days’ sufficiency, 24-hour operations in all NNPC Depots and mega stations; sustained media and stakeholders engagements; increased monitoring, surveillance and sanctions as well as re-streaming at Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries put at three million daily.
Dr. Baru called on the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to review the pricing template and landing cost, even as he asked the National Assembly to approve outstanding subsidy payments and debts to marketers.
The GMD commended the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of helping the Corporation immensely during the crisis, adding: “JTF helped in reducing delays in checkpoints as well as curtailing theft in the Okrika jetty.”[myad]
Ever since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost at the 2015 general election, I have taken special interest in its affairs. That is simply because our democracy will not thrive without a credible opposition. So, two weeks before last month’s national convention to elect the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) members, I sought appointment with the then caretaker chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi for a background chat on what was going on. And in our interaction, the former Governor of Kaduna State was rather candid about the party’s challenges and prospects, including how the chairmanship election was likely to go and the factors that would shape the entire convention.
However, what struck me in my discussion with Makarfi was the fear by the party leadership at the time that a particular Senator from the South-west has the capacity to single-handedly keep PDP in crisis because of his “strong connection” to some powerful Judges who can grant him a contrived ruling, order or injunction at any given time. What I took away from that encounter is the level to which corruption has eaten deep into our judiciary such that some of our politicians are no longer content with hiring Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), they also have their own judges. Nothing exemplifies this sordid state of affairs than the fact that the people of Anambra Central Senatorial district have been denied representation for over two years now.
The unfortunate drama started on 28th March 2015 when Mrs Uche Ekwunife, then of the PDP, won the senatorial election that was later nullified on grounds that she was not validly nominated by her party. After exhausting all appeal options available to seek legal redress, Ekwunife was in December 2015 disqualified by the Appeal Tribunal, the final arbiter for all litigations for National and State Assembly elections. And by way of a consequential order, the court also directed INEC to conduct a re-run election within 90 days.
In compliance, INEC scheduled the re-run poll for 5th March 2016 without the participation of the disqualified candidate (Ekwunife) and her party (the PDP). This is in line with a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that parties that field candidates disqualified by the Appeal Tribunals cannot participate in court-ordered re-run elections because the 60-day period for nomination of candidates had elapsed while the disqualified candidates can also not be replaced because the period for withdrawal of nominations (45 days to a general election under the Electoral Act) has similarly elapsed. INEC has been invoking this Supreme Court judgment to edge out parties whose candidates were disqualified from participating in court-ordered re-run elections, including for two senatorial districts in Kogi State last year.
However, Anambra politicians are a special breed. When Ekwunife’s election was nullified, the two major parties, APC and PDP, insisted that they must replace their candidates with both of them conducting fresh primaries. The PDP nominated former Governor Peter Obi to replace Ekwunife while the APC nominated Mrs Sharon Ikeazor to replace another former Governor of the State, Dr Chris Ngige, the original APC candidate who had by then been appointed a Minister by President Muhammadu Buhari. Quite naturally, INEC rejected these two nominations in line with the Supreme Court decision and this ignited another round of legal fireworks that stalled the conduct of the court-ordered re-run election.
Meanwhile, a curious twist was added to the drama following the Supreme Court ruling in the cases involving Governor Samuel Otom of Benue State and Aisha Alhassan’s unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in Taraba State. According to the Supreme Court, the improper conduct of primaries in one political party cannot be used by a member of another political party to cause the nullification of an election. Since that Supreme Court decision came after the nullification of Anambra Central Senatorial election by the Appeal Tribunal, Ekwunife thought she could use the principle to secure back her seat so she again approached the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division; urging the court to set aside the judgment of the Appeal Tribunal and to restrain INEC from conducting the re-run election.
On 3rd March 2016, the Court dismissed Ekwunike’s case as follows: “This is an appeal cloaked in the guise of a motion. We cannot sit on appeal over our own judgement. This court is the final Court. Once a court delivers judgment, subject to the ‘slip rule’ principle, that Court becomes functus officio…There must be an end to litigation. The motion is incompetent and completely misconceived. It is hereby dismissed. Consequently the Motion praying for an order of injunction restraining the respondents from conducting fresh election is hereby struck out as having been overtaken by the outcome of this motion.”
Dissatisfied, Ekwunife approached the Supreme Court for redress in the light of that decision on Ortom and Alhassan. On 10th February 2017, the apex court, in dismissing the plea, reminded Ekwunife that “the decisions of the Court of Appeal in respect of appeals arising from the National and State House of Assembly election petitions shall be final” before ruling that “this Court has no jurisdiction to hear any appeals related thereto, no matter how cleverly framed”.
While that effectively marked the end of the road for Ekwunife’s bid to regain her senate seat, it was by no means an end to the Anambra Central Senatorial drama. With INEC rejecting his nomination as PDP candidate for the re-run election, Obi had dragged the commission to the Federal High Court, Abuja presided over by Justice Anwuli Chikere. And on 29th February 2016, barely one week before the poll scheduled for 5th March 2016, the Judge granted a perpetual injunction restraining INEC from conducting the re-run election without him (Obi) and the PDP. And since INEC had to obey the ruling, that effectively stalled the election.
Quite naturally, INEC challenged the curious judgment at the Court of Appeal while the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in the election, Chief Victor Umeh, separately but on similar grounds, also approached the appellate court. And on 20th November 2017, the Court of Appeal delivered judgments in the two cases by setting aside the judgment of the Federal High Court (given by Justice Chikere). The Appeal Court also ordered INEC to conduct the re-run election within 90 dayswithout the participation of Obi and PDP; and by inference, without APC if it is not Ngige that is being fielded.
Based on these judgments that should ordinarily put an end to all litigations, INEC has fixed next week Saturday, 13th January 2018 for the re-run election. But since we are dealing with politics in Anambra State, that cannot possibly be the end of the story. And it is not!
On 13th December 2017, a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice John Tsoho delivered a judgment in a case filed by Mr Obiora Okonkwo that he was the rightful PDP candidate in the primaries conducted on 7th December 2014. And according to Justice Tsoho, the said Okonkwo won the PDP primaries and on the basis of that; should be declared the Senator-elect! What’s more, Justice Tsoho also ordered the National Assembly to pay Okonkwo every kobo (perhaps including all the under-the-table allowances) that his “colleagues” in the Senate have received since June 2015!
The implication of the foregoing is that, at the moment, INEC is faced with two conflicting orders: the Court of Appeal ruling that the re-run election should proceed without the PDP and its candidate as well as the Federal High Court ruling that a Certificate of Return be issued by the commission to “Senator” Okonkwo so he can be known and addressed as “Most Distinguished”.
While we wait to see how the latest farce will play out, this case has thrown up a number of issues. When the election Petitions Appeal Tribunal nullified Ekwunife’s election, it was supposed to end all litigations by virtue of Section 246 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as emended) which confers finality on the judgment of the Appeal Tribunal in legislative elections. But it is also evident that the people of Anambra Central are mere pawns on the chess board of some desperate political players.
What is even more unfortunate about the debacle is that the interest of both the APC and the PDP is the same: Neither wants the re-run election to hold. The PDP, because it cannot field a candidate and the APC because, since Ngige prefers a ministerial bird in hand to an unsure senatorial seat, he has decided not to run; yet the party cannot present any other candidate except him. That perhaps explains why there are still several other cases in court by different parties on the same Anambra Central Senatorial ticket, including by some little-known electoral no-hopers who may just be fronting for some big masquerades with vested interest.
Unfortunately, that is the way politics is played in Anambra State. In my book, “Against The Run of Play: How an incumbent president was defeated in Nigeria”, President Goodluck Jonathan recounted a meeting he had with the leadership of both the National Assembly and the judiciary on how to find an institutional framework in the bid to combat corruption in our country. Let me quote the former president here: “…I also invited Chief Judges from one state in each of the six geopolitical zones. I specifically requested for Lagos and Anambra to represent their zones. My choosing Anambra was because that is one state where every political aspirant goes into election with at least two court orders in his pocket. You cannot fight corruption without dealing with such issues”.
All said, it is the judiciary that really should feel ashamed by the shenanigans that are going on. Our court system is predicated on judicial hierarchy. Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) clearly defines the hierarchy and lower courts are under obligation to obey the judgments of superior courts under all circumstances. Section 287 (1) & (2) state as follows: “(1) the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court; (2) the decisions of the Court of Appeal shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Court of Appeal”.
The pertinent questions therefore are: How come that, in this particular instance, a lower court (on 13th December 2017) could overrule a superior court on the same subject matter three weeks after the judgement of the superior court (delivered on 20th November 2017)? How come that a High Court can order the issuance of a certificate of return for an election that had been nullified more than two years ago by the Appeal Tribunal with a consequential order for its re-run?
In his lecture, “Keeping a Republic: Overcoming the Corrupted Judiciary”, Robert H. Bork, a Professor at the Yale Law School and a former American Solicitor General, acting U.S. Attorney General and erstwhile Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argues that the rule of law requires that “the principles announced and relied upon by judges be neutral in their application” which means that “a principle, once chosen, be applied according to its terms to all relevant cases without regard to the judge’s personal views of the parties or issues before him.”
While this, according to Bork, requires discipline, since no judge can possibly avoid seeing a case without his own worldview coming into play, “there is a chasm between a judge who knows that and consciously strives for objectivity and a judge who knowingly undertakes to impose his vision of justice upon the parties before him and upon the society.” Yet, it is that deliberate choice to impose a vision of justice that is most often at variance with public good that is at the root of the problem we are talking about in Nigeria today.
At all times and in all circumstances, the role of the courts as the interpreter of the law, resolver of disputes and defender of the Constitution, requires that Judges abide by their oath. That explains why a judiciary debilitated by, or prone to, all manner of misconduct, including corruption and political interference, is a danger to society. Sadly, we can see the evidence of this in our polity and it is important for critical stakeholders to understand that we cannot continue like this if our nation must develop and thrive.
On the immediate case of Anambra Central Senatorial election, it is incumbent on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, to intervene on the side of reason and common sense. Beyond that, as the 2019 general election approaches, it is not only worrisome that most of the conflicting judgements nationwide relate to political cases, something has to be done to stem the looming judicial anarchy that may imperil the conduct of elections by INEC.
This is therefore the time for the National Judicial Council (NJC) to step in to restore sanity to the bench. It cannot just wait until a petition is filed before investigating and dealing with blatant deviant behaviour that brings the judiciary to ridicule and threatens our democracy.
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[myad]
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has disclosed that no fewer than 148,533 million litres of fuel were diverted by unscrupulous elements during the December fuel crisis.
When Judges Imperil Democracy, By Olusegun Adeniyi
However, what struck me in my discussion with Makarfi was the fear by the party leadership at the time that a particular Senator from the South-west has the capacity to single-handedly keep PDP in crisis because of his “strong connection” to some powerful Judges who can grant him a contrived ruling, order or injunction at any given time. What I took away from that encounter is the level to which corruption has eaten deep into our judiciary such that some of our politicians are no longer content with hiring Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), they also have their own judges. Nothing exemplifies this sordid state of affairs than the fact that the people of Anambra Central Senatorial district have been denied representation for over two years now.
The unfortunate drama started on 28th March 2015 when Mrs Uche Ekwunife, then of the PDP, won the senatorial election that was later nullified on grounds that she was not validly nominated by her party. After exhausting all appeal options available to seek legal redress, Ekwunife was in December 2015 disqualified by the Appeal Tribunal, the final arbiter for all litigations for National and State Assembly elections. And by way of a consequential order, the court also directed INEC to conduct a re-run election within 90 days.
In compliance, INEC scheduled the re-run poll for 5th March 2016 without the participation of the disqualified candidate (Ekwunife) and her party (the PDP). This is in line with a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that parties that field candidates disqualified by the Appeal Tribunals cannot participate in court-ordered re-run elections because the 60-day period for nomination of candidates had elapsed while the disqualified candidates can also not be replaced because the period for withdrawal of nominations (45 days to a general election under the Electoral Act) has similarly elapsed. INEC has been invoking this Supreme Court judgment to edge out parties whose candidates were disqualified from participating in court-ordered re-run elections, including for two senatorial districts in Kogi State last year.
However, Anambra politicians are a special breed. When Ekwunife’s election was nullified, the two major parties, APC and PDP, insisted that they must replace their candidates with both of them conducting fresh primaries. The PDP nominated former Governor Peter Obi to replace Ekwunife while the APC nominated Mrs Sharon Ikeazor to replace another former Governor of the State, Dr Chris Ngige, the original APC candidate who had by then been appointed a Minister by President Muhammadu Buhari. Quite naturally, INEC rejected these two nominations in line with the Supreme Court decision and this ignited another round of legal fireworks that stalled the conduct of the court-ordered re-run election.
Meanwhile, a curious twist was added to the drama following the Supreme Court ruling in the cases involving Governor Samuel Otom of Benue State and Aisha Alhassan’s unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in Taraba State. According to the Supreme Court, the improper conduct of primaries in one political party cannot be used by a member of another political party to cause the nullification of an election. Since that Supreme Court decision came after the nullification of Anambra Central Senatorial election by the Appeal Tribunal, Ekwunife thought she could use the principle to secure back her seat so she again approached the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division; urging the court to set aside the judgment of the Appeal Tribunal and to restrain INEC from conducting the re-run election.
On 3rd March 2016, the Court dismissed Ekwunike’s case as follows: “This is an appeal cloaked in the guise of a motion. We cannot sit on appeal over our own judgement. This court is the final Court. Once a court delivers judgment, subject to the ‘slip rule’ principle, that Court becomes functus officio…There must be an end to litigation. The motion is incompetent and completely misconceived. It is hereby dismissed. Consequently the Motion praying for an order of injunction restraining the respondents from conducting fresh election is hereby struck out as having been overtaken by the outcome of this motion.”
Dissatisfied, Ekwunife approached the Supreme Court for redress in the light of that decision on Ortom and Alhassan. On 10th February 2017, the apex court, in dismissing the plea, reminded Ekwunife that “the decisions of the Court of Appeal in respect of appeals arising from the National and State House of Assembly election petitions shall be final” before ruling that “this Court has no jurisdiction to hear any appeals related thereto, no matter how cleverly framed”.
While that effectively marked the end of the road for Ekwunife’s bid to regain her senate seat, it was by no means an end to the Anambra Central Senatorial drama. With INEC rejecting his nomination as PDP candidate for the re-run election, Obi had dragged the commission to the Federal High Court, Abuja presided over by Justice Anwuli Chikere. And on 29th February 2016, barely one week before the poll scheduled for 5th March 2016, the Judge granted a perpetual injunction restraining INEC from conducting the re-run election without him (Obi) and the PDP. And since INEC had to obey the ruling, that effectively stalled the election.
Quite naturally, INEC challenged the curious judgment at the Court of Appeal while the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in the election, Chief Victor Umeh, separately but on similar grounds, also approached the appellate court. And on 20th November 2017, the Court of Appeal delivered judgments in the two cases by setting aside the judgment of the Federal High Court (given by Justice Chikere). The Appeal Court also ordered INEC to conduct the re-run election within 90 dayswithout the participation of Obi and PDP; and by inference, without APC if it is not Ngige that is being fielded.
Based on these judgments that should ordinarily put an end to all litigations, INEC has fixed next week Saturday, 13th January 2018 for the re-run election. But since we are dealing with politics in Anambra State, that cannot possibly be the end of the story. And it is not!
On 13th December 2017, a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice John Tsoho delivered a judgment in a case filed by Mr Obiora Okonkwo that he was the rightful PDP candidate in the primaries conducted on 7th December 2014. And according to Justice Tsoho, the said Okonkwo won the PDP primaries and on the basis of that; should be declared the Senator-elect! What’s more, Justice Tsoho also ordered the National Assembly to pay Okonkwo every kobo (perhaps including all the under-the-table allowances) that his “colleagues” in the Senate have received since June 2015!
The implication of the foregoing is that, at the moment, INEC is faced with two conflicting orders: the Court of Appeal ruling that the re-run election should proceed without the PDP and its candidate as well as the Federal High Court ruling that a Certificate of Return be issued by the commission to “Senator” Okonkwo so he can be known and addressed as “Most Distinguished”.
While we wait to see how the latest farce will play out, this case has thrown up a number of issues. When the election Petitions Appeal Tribunal nullified Ekwunife’s election, it was supposed to end all litigations by virtue of Section 246 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as emended) which confers finality on the judgment of the Appeal Tribunal in legislative elections. But it is also evident that the people of Anambra Central are mere pawns on the chess board of some desperate political players.
What is even more unfortunate about the debacle is that the interest of both the APC and the PDP is the same: Neither wants the re-run election to hold. The PDP, because it cannot field a candidate and the APC because, since Ngige prefers a ministerial bird in hand to an unsure senatorial seat, he has decided not to run; yet the party cannot present any other candidate except him. That perhaps explains why there are still several other cases in court by different parties on the same Anambra Central Senatorial ticket, including by some little-known electoral no-hopers who may just be fronting for some big masquerades with vested interest.
Unfortunately, that is the way politics is played in Anambra State. In my book, “Against The Run of Play: How an incumbent president was defeated in Nigeria”, President Goodluck Jonathan recounted a meeting he had with the leadership of both the National Assembly and the judiciary on how to find an institutional framework in the bid to combat corruption in our country. Let me quote the former president here: “…I also invited Chief Judges from one state in each of the six geopolitical zones. I specifically requested for Lagos and Anambra to represent their zones. My choosing Anambra was because that is one state where every political aspirant goes into election with at least two court orders in his pocket. You cannot fight corruption without dealing with such issues”.
All said, it is the judiciary that really should feel ashamed by the shenanigans that are going on. Our court system is predicated on judicial hierarchy. Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) clearly defines the hierarchy and lower courts are under obligation to obey the judgments of superior courts under all circumstances. Section 287 (1) & (2) state as follows: “(1) the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court; (2) the decisions of the Court of Appeal shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Court of Appeal”.
The pertinent questions therefore are: How come that, in this particular instance, a lower court (on 13th December 2017) could overrule a superior court on the same subject matter three weeks after the judgement of the superior court (delivered on 20th November 2017)? How come that a High Court can order the issuance of a certificate of return for an election that had been nullified more than two years ago by the Appeal Tribunal with a consequential order for its re-run?
In his lecture, “Keeping a Republic: Overcoming the Corrupted Judiciary”, Robert H. Bork, a Professor at the Yale Law School and a former American Solicitor General, acting U.S. Attorney General and erstwhile Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argues that the rule of law requires that “the principles announced and relied upon by judges be neutral in their application” which means that “a principle, once chosen, be applied according to its terms to all relevant cases without regard to the judge’s personal views of the parties or issues before him.”
While this, according to Bork, requires discipline, since no judge can possibly avoid seeing a case without his own worldview coming into play, “there is a chasm between a judge who knows that and consciously strives for objectivity and a judge who knowingly undertakes to impose his vision of justice upon the parties before him and upon the society.” Yet, it is that deliberate choice to impose a vision of justice that is most often at variance with public good that is at the root of the problem we are talking about in Nigeria today.
At all times and in all circumstances, the role of the courts as the interpreter of the law, resolver of disputes and defender of the Constitution, requires that Judges abide by their oath. That explains why a judiciary debilitated by, or prone to, all manner of misconduct, including corruption and political interference, is a danger to society. Sadly, we can see the evidence of this in our polity and it is important for critical stakeholders to understand that we cannot continue like this if our nation must develop and thrive.
On the immediate case of Anambra Central Senatorial election, it is incumbent on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, to intervene on the side of reason and common sense. Beyond that, as the 2019 general election approaches, it is not only worrisome that most of the conflicting judgements nationwide relate to political cases, something has to be done to stem the looming judicial anarchy that may imperil the conduct of elections by INEC.
This is therefore the time for the National Judicial Council (NJC) to step in to restore sanity to the bench. It cannot just wait until a petition is filed before investigating and dealing with blatant deviant behaviour that brings the judiciary to ridicule and threatens our democracy.
Credit: Olusegun Adeniyi, Thisday[myad]