The leadership of the Kano State Police Command has been in an expansive mood. Understandably, last weekend, the command issued an interesting public statement, couched in relief and self-adulation. Reporting with obvious delight, the command informed the public, with justifiable satisfaction, that in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment on Friday, January13 2024, which finally settled the 2023 governorship election in the state, there was zero crime and zero violence in Kano state. The people of the state received the judgment, accepted it, celebrated it with decorum and moved on. That, without doubt, is a good reason for a Police command to feel good.
The judgment by the Supreme Court affirmed, ultimately, the electoral victory of Governor Abba Yusuf of the New Nigerian Peoples Party [NNPP]. The governor was returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] after the election on March 18 2023. By its judgment on Friday January 13,2024, the Supreme Court trashed the judgment by the Appeal Court, which had, in November 2023, declared Nosiru Gawuna of the All Progressives, the winner. The Appeal Court judgment had endorsed the earlier sacking of Governor Abba Yusuf by the governorship election tribunal.
The undulating graph of the electoral fortune of candidates in the Kano state governorship election in March 2023, is not peculiar. It is not unlike the fate of a number of other contestants in other parts of the country, in the giddy polls of 2023. The situation is symptomatic of the worrisome health of the judiciary and the electoral process in Nigeria, which has verged towards crisis.
The Appeal Court verdict of November 2023, pushed Kano to an edge. A state known for its volatility, more so when its bustling populace feel, or are made to feel, politically or culturally short changed, received the Appeal Court judgment sacking Governor Yusuf, as one of such affront. As it seemed, the people decided to wait for the final say on the matter by the Supreme Court before they react. In the interim, there were ominous signs of how they may receive the awaited result. Both the apex court and the All Progressives Congress-led federal government took note. When, after sitting on the case, the Supreme Court reserved its judgment, the people of Kano reserved their reaction, too. It was not difficult however, for all interested parties to discern the predominant leaning of the people, on where they believe justice rightly belonged. But they simply waited. The Supreme Court wisely took notice that Kano was waiting for it.
In his celebratory public release on the outbreak of peace across all the 44 local government areas of Kano state, following the verdict by the Supreme Court, the State commissioner of Police, Mr. Usaini Gambo, announced that the celebration of the judgment went “peacefully, without threat to lives and property”. He followed the announcement with a comic trip to self-indulgence, by declaring that “we [ referring to the Police, presumably], are happy that everyone heed [sic] the advice issued by the police command…. early hours celebration was held in a hitch-free atmosphere across the state…. No shop or business premises was vandalized before, during and after the judgment and during their celebrations…”
What Police Commissioner Gambo was saying in essence, in case you missed him in his drift, is that peace reigned in Kano, after the Supreme Court judgment of January 13 2024, because the Police counselled for peace and there was peace. Kano people simply took heed of the counsel. of the Police command. Ye! Ye! Ye!
What does it benefit anyone to contend that the peace that exploded all over Kano on January 13 2024, after the Supreme Court judgment, had little or nothing to do with any counsel from the police. Kano people, like the rest of Nigerians, are not unreasonable. The people of Kano simply reciprocated the exhibition of common sense by the Supreme Court. It was, more or less, a matter of, let each side respect itself! The Supreme Court respected itself on this matter. The people of Kano followed suit. The Police is simply a beneficiary of the mutual understanding.
It is amazing how so simple and devoid of complications life will be, if we all, the judiciary and all, behave ourselves and respect each other. There surely, is no extent of peace or security Nigeria will not experience, if state functionaries and agencies, commit themselves to do the right things.
In its ruling on the Kano state governorship election on Friday, January 13 2024, the Supreme Court proved that whether in Kano, or elsewhere, the people can and do celebrate justice and fair judicial ruling when and where that obtains.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not receive full credit for the largely perceived fair and right judgment on the Kano governorship election. Why? Because many believe the apex court simply ducked from a looming meltdown. In other words, it merely avoided danger starring all in the face. Kano is not, say, Enugu.
Whatever anyone may feel or say, however, the Supreme Court deserves some acclaim for its judgment in Kano. It takes reasonable men and women to recognize danger, when one is in the offing, and act decisively to detonate it.
As for Police Commissioner Gambo, he should be informed, if he does not know it, that it was the Supreme Court and its wise verdict on the governorship tussle, rather than any counsel of the Police to the people, that saved those shops and property in Kano on January 13 2024. However, if believing otherwise makes the police boss to feel good, so let it be. May counsels like his recent one continue to prevail in Kano.
While the redemptive judgment of the Supreme Court in Kano gained broad positive reception, a similar positive verdict, by the same court, concerning Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State, though well received too, has thrown up troubling questions about Plateau.
It is, certainly, not enough that the Supreme Court affirmed Governor Mutfwang. The nagging question is, what about his party colleagues on the legislative side, who the Appeal Court, contentiously threw under the bus? Can the Supreme Court and the Appeal Court be right at the same time for taking contrasting decisions?
If, the very vehicle with which Caleb Mutfwang arrived at governorship is confirmed as legal and valid by the highest court in the land, what is to be made of the Appeal Court sacking all of sixteen Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] legislators in the state, including senators, on the basis that the same vehicle, used by Mutfwang, was not valid for others?
The prevailing arrangement in the Nigerian judiciary, where every court, every judge and every layer of the judicial system carries on, with neither respect for the next station, nor regard for a common standard, has brought so much confusion in the judicial system and travesty of justice in the society. There is need for order.
Nigeria has established a robust culture of accommodating wrongs and living comfortably with them. Even at that, the judicial puzzle in Plateau yearns for a proper explanation. There cannot be one law for governor, and another law for legislators, in the same state. Or can there be? This is not a matter of go to court. The question now is, which of the courts is in charge?