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The February 25, 2023 presidential election in Nigeria may have come and gone, but its echoes have continued to reverberate across the country, and in the Diaspora. The outcome of the election has generated heated arguments and counter-arguments couched in political, religious, ethnic and tribal colorations. Nigerians, cutting across various strata of the society have shared their views and perspectives on the election. While some have described it as the worst presidential election ever conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) since 1999 when the democratic governance returned to Nigeria, others are of the view that the election was credible. It is a case of different strokes for different folks.
The declaration the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the election by the INEC has generated a lot of controversy. Many described the declaration as controversial because it was done in the wee hours of February 28 amidst a potpourri of complaints by the opposition political parties, coupled with the fact that INEC had clearly promised to review such complaints before the final declaration but it never did. Having failed to live up to its own promise of reviewing the opposition’s complaints before the final declaration, the outcome was outrightly rejected by some opposition parties and their candidates, among which are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, as well as the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, among others.
At the last count, no fewer than five opposition political parties that took part in the election, including the PDP and LP alongside their candidates, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi, had approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to seek redress on what they called daylight electoral fraud and robbery. The other three political parties and their candidates that took the electoral battle to court are the Action Alliance (AA) and its candidate, Solomon Okangbuan; the Action Peoples Party (APP) as well as the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and its candidate, Chichi Ojei.
Since March when the political parties filed various legal processes to challenge the outcome of the presidential election and the INEC’s declaration of Tinubu as the president-elect, the focal point of discussion has been shifted to the judiciary, with many expressing doubt about the ability of the judiciary to live above board and uphold justice. It is not surprising to note that arguments and counter-arguments have since shifted to the judiciary because it is generally believed to be the last hope of the common man, and Nigerians expect nothing but to see that last hope being restored.
Even though the two leading opposition candidates, Atiku of the PDP and Obi of the LP have expressed hope in the judiciary as they believe strongly that the respected players in the temple of justice would not cave in to pressures from any quarter but deliver sound judgment that would reflect and represent justice, fairness and equity in spirit and truth, there are still many Nigerians who are skeptical about the ability of the judiciary to stand on the podium of truth, justice, fairness and equity as they deliver judgement on the matter.
There are different permutations as to what could possibly happen as the judges sit to look at the matter before them. These permutations are hinged on the points of arguments by some of the parties in court.
Some parties are pushing that INEC erred by declaring Tinubu as president-elect when he did not meet up with the constitutional requirement of 25 percent of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and on that score, the president-elect should not be sworn into office until the matter is determined by the court. Those who are latching onto this line of thought insist that the issue of 25 percent of votes cast in the FCT is a constitutional matter, which must be trashed before anybody can be sworn in as the president. They further argued that the matter is not just an ordinary election petition matter but a constitutional one that requires judicial interpretation before the president-elect can be sworn into office. “Since the issue of a candidate who had a majority of the votes cast but failed to secure 25 percent of the FCT occurred for the first time in the country’s political history in this 2023 election, INEC should have sought judicial interpretation from the court before declaring Tinubu the winner and president-elect. It is a matter distinct and quite different from INEC’s duty to conduct elections and announce the results. The constitutionality or otherwise of the president-elect cannot be made to wait while he is sworn in before being determined. He has to meet the constitutional requirement before he can be sworn in, not the other way round.
“Those who argue that in the past the president-elect was sworn into office while the election petition continued to avoid a vacuum in the government, should be reminded that the present case is different from the others in the past. It is very fundamental and weighty, and a substantial ground for the tribunal to grant an order of injunction restraining the swearing in of anybody on May 29 as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Again, there are others who are urging the court to declare that the president-elect was not qualified in the first place to contest the election, having been involved in a drug case in the United States of America, where he forfeited about $460,000, alleged to be proceeds of drug crime some years ago. Yet, there are other parties insisting that apart from the above reasons, and the forged certificate saga trailing the president-elect, the election itself was violence-ridden, as there were media reports of massive rigging, voter intimidation, suppression, outright destruction of voting materials and ballot boxes, as well as physical attacks on voters, leading to casualties, and in some cases, loss of lives and property. As such, they are calling for the total cancellation of the election based on the foregoing factors.
Lending his voice to what Nigerians will be expecting from the judiciary as the judges begin to look at all the facts before them is the president of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Pogu Bitrus. According to him, Nigerians are looking up to the judiciary to do the right thing by upholding the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is his humble submission that Nigerians expect the judiciary to ensure that justice, rather than personal opinion prevails and to ensure that their decisions were guided by the law rather than anything else. “Nigerians also expect the judges to ensure that irrespective of whose ox is gored, the laws of the country must be seen to be greater and bigger than an individual. The institutions are bigger than any person, so the judges must do the right thing according to the laws of the land. If anybody is guilty, whether it is the INEC, the president-elect or whoever, the person should face the law and let the correct judgement come out. That will be beneficial to Nigeria and Nigerians as well,” he stated.
For the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, one of the expected qualities of a judge is uprightness. “So, Nigerians’ expectation will be that the judges possess such features as uprightness, truth, openness and legacy; legacy in the sense that when a judge’s name is mentioned, he will be remembered as an upright man, who does not deviate from the truth. That is the major expectation of Nigerians from the judiciary as they get into the trial,” he said.
He also reminded the judges to bear in mind that each of them has a need to protect his/her integrity, and to create a personal legacy. He said: “What is important is that ultimately when the person’s name is mentioned, he will be remembered as an honest, upright person who has created a legacy for himself. So, they must remain upright. It will be a plus for Nigeria and the kind of democracy we are craving for will begin to materialize.”
Dr. Ogbonnia said Nigerians expect the judges to live up to their calling and do the right thing as that would have great impact not only in Nigeria but also in Africa as a whole. “If we get it right in Nigeria, it will be a plus for the whole of Africa, but if we get it wrong in Nigeria, it will be a minus for the whole of Africa. So, it is expected that the judges will do their work well and save Nigeria and Africa as a whole,” he submitted.
The president of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima, reminded the judges that Nigerians are watching them even as he noted that Nigerians’ expectation is that justice should be done. “If there is any claim of irregularity anywhere, the claimant should come up with enough facts to prove such irregularities, and not just mere conjuring of imagination. So, as Nigerians look forward to seeing the outcome of the case, the judges should do the right thing; they must work with what is before them and what is before them is what Nigerians will expect to see,” he said.
However, for the former second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Onyekachi Ubani, Nigerians expect nothing but justice. “Nigerians expect justice and not technicality. We don’t want a situation where technicality will triumph over substantial justice. The judges should apply the law with justice in mind; that is what Nigerians expect from the judiciary,” he submitted.
Quote: “Nigerians expect justice and not technicality. We don’t want a situation where technicality will triumph over substantial justice. The judges should apply the law with justice in mind; that is what Nigerians expect from the judiciary”
