The frenzy which recently enveloped the Bola Tinubu presidency over the “ALL EYES ON THE JUDICIARY” billboards is at the root of where we are today as a people. The country is sitting on edge. Everything is in a state of suspended animation. We are not yet sure where we are headed until the judiciary decides the fate of the country, one way or another.
The disquiet which the billboards caused around Tinubu and his cohorts is pitiable, even laughable. It is indeed laughable that billboards and their innocuous messages have suddenly become objects of fear. The messages, rather than be imbibed and internalized, now invoke apprehension and trepidation. The clay-footed government of the day betrayed its poor grip and grasp of issues of the moment when it gave marching orders to the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria to dissolve the secretariat of the Advertising Standard Panel for approving the billboards. It accused the approving agency of poor judgment. The order has since been carried out and the billboards have disappeared from their familiar locations.
But what purpose does this serve other than that those who are afraid of the billboards may have experienced some relief? Yes, their tell-tale presence is no longer there. But has that changed anything? I do not think so. If anything, the action of government has drawn more attention to the message on the billboards. No doubt, those who wanted the billboards dismantled may have imagined that their public display was serving the interest of people who were not satisfied with the outcome of the 2023 general election. In other words, the billboards were believed to be speaking to the conscience of the Justices who are superintending over the election petitions brought before them by aggrieved parties. That could be so. But the undeniable fact is that the billboards also served the interest of those who benefited from the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). If those who were not satisfied with the outcome of the elections are looking up to the judiciary to reverse INEC’s declarations, those who applauded the results as declared by the electoral commission are also looking up to the same judiciary to uphold the status quo. This being the case, all eyes are, wittingly or unwittingly, on the judiciary. It all depends on which side of the divide you belong to. To assume that the billboards were programmed towards a defined and definite outcome is myopic. It is a betrayal of a crippling sense of guilt to feel or assume that the message on the billboards serves only the interest of those who were disappointed by the poor job done by INEC. Those who benefited from the disaster also have their eyes on the judiciary, with a fervent prayer that the loathsome order survives the onslaught it is receiving from decent quarters.
The ugly story of the 2023 general election is too well known at the level of the presidential contest where the depositions, claims and declarations of Bola Tinubu and INEC have disrupted everything that is right and just in the country. Tinubu, together with the electoral commission that declared him President, has a number of issues to contend with. Some of them include Invalid/double nomination of his running mate, Kashim Shettima, Tinubu’s Guinean citizenship, alleged forged certificate from Chicago State University, Tinubu’s criminal forfeiture of $460,000 to the US government after a Chicago court found that the income came from heroin trafficking. What about the mandatory 25 percent of votes in the Federal Capital Territory in which Tinubu is deficient and which INEC ignored in declaring him President? Also contentious is INEC’s non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, through its failure to transmit results electronically and in real time. The commission’s claim that it experienced technical glitches on its server on Election Day is being disputed. The damning reports from the European Union Election Observation Mission and the British Broadcasting Corporation on the 2023 general election are also there for anyone to see. The list of infractions is long and windy.
But the February 25 presidential election is not alone in this matter. The conduct and outcome of the March 18 governorship elections in some states of the federation are also a matter for hot dispute. A classic example is that of Enugu State where Peter Mbah, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party who was declared governor by INEC, is at daggers drawn with Chijioke Edeoga, the Labour Party candidate in that election. Like Tinubu, Mbah has a lot of baggage to deal with. The discharge certificate he presented to INEC has been disowned by the National Youth Service Corps. A case of perjury is hanging dangerously over his head on account of this. For this reason, Edeoga and Labour Party are working hard to establish before the Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Enugu that Mbah was not qualified to contest the election to the office of Governor of Enugu State.
Apart from this, Edeoga and his party are arguing that Mbah was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election, citing electoral malfeasance in some local government areas where votes were allegedly suppressed in favour of Mbah, contrary to what transpired on Election Day.
In the Enugu case as well, INEC’s non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, is also an issue. Here, the Labour Party is arguing that the issue of over-voting in Nkanu East Local Government Area vitiates the return made in favour of Mbah. The argument here is that the number of votes recorded in the affected registration areas exceeds the number of accredited.
Just like those of the presidential election, the issues in the Enugu State governorship dispute are weighty. How the courts resolve them matters a great deal. Given this kind of scenario, much is being expected from the temple of justice. The people want to see how the tribunals will deal with the issues brought before them for adjudication. The judiciary plays a pivotal role in the sustenance of democracy. That is why it is often referred to as the last hope of the common man. To this extent, the judiciary is usually looked up to to right the wrongs plaguing the system, especially when issues in dispute are brought before it for adjudication.
Given the rape and pillaging that the 2023 elections in Nigeria were subjected to, the people can rightly beckon on the judiciary to save the situation. That is what Nigerians are doing. So, what is there to be afraid of? At a time like this when it is not easy to be a Nigerian, our eyes must be on the judiciary in the hope that it will bail us out of our self-imposed quagmire. It is a legitimate and country-saving pastime.