For the sake of emphasis, the Nigerian election political cycle starts with the INEC registration of voters and ends in the courts.
While the politicians and political parties are expected to conduct their intra and inter-party activities within the guidelines as set by the umpire in this case INEC, the judiciary is expected to apply sanctions where necessary for the failure of any politician or political party to abide by the set rules of such election as required by either the constitution or the regulatory body in this case the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), because the constitution did not empower INEC to punish or disqualify any politician or political party for conducting their activities outside the set guidelines.
Recently, decisions arising from the judiciary have left Nigerians more confused than they were politically before the 2023 general elections.
The tribunals and Court of Appeal in some of their decisions sacked some governors and lawmakers anchoring their decisions on issues around membership and/or non-sponsorship by political parties for those seeking elective offices since independent candidacy is unknown to our laws.
In some instances, the tribunal and appeal panels viewed non or partial compliance to the electoral act as punishable and went ahead to sack those who by the wisdom of the courts did not comply with the guidelines as enshrined in the 2022 electoral act as amended, a further review of the judgments as dispensed by the courts during the last election cycle, calls for serious concern on how our judiciary is presently structured.
Some of the cases that stood out are that of Plateau and Abia states where the appeal courts in their wisdom citing the provisions of the electoral acts nullified the elections of the lawmakers, in Abia state the appeal court panel sitting in Lagos sacked the Senator representing Abia Central Senatorial zone Senator Darlington Nwokocha and member representing Aba North state constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly Hon. Destiny Akaraka Nwagwu all of the Labour Party, one can rightly describe the ruling of the 3-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Hon. Justice Georgewill Biobelle JCA, that sacked the Senate Minority Leader Sen. Nwokocha as dramatic because the same panel in a different ruling few munites later upheld that of Hon. Ginger Onwusibe in an election that went through the same process of nomination and sponsorship.
In Plateau state, the election of all 16 PDP members in the state House of Assembly were nullified, the Appeal panel also sacked the Governor, senators, and House of Representatives members elected under the umbrella of the PDP on the grounds of the party’s alleged lack of structure to nominate them as candidates, there are also similar occurrences in other instances like Kano, Adamawa, Nasarawa, etc.
However, the Supreme Court had in their recent rulings declared that the reasons adduced by the tribunal and appeal courts for voiding those elections as pre-election matters, and therefore cannot be entertained by the election tribunals.
I can recall that Senator Nwokocha before the ruling of the Supreme Court on Abia, Kano, and Plateau, had approached the apex court in an attempt to review the rulings of the appeal court that sacked him only for the Supreme Court to dismiss the motion and slam him with a cost of 2 million.
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, and in many cases berated and cautioned the appeal court justices and election petition tribunals that matters bothering on internal affairs of a political party, membership, sponsorship, nomination et al, should not be entertained by election petition tribunals, does it not amount to injustice to deny those whose legitimate electoral victories were voided on those grounds the right to review their matters?
However, it is a widely held opinion that the rulings of the Supreme Court especially as they relate to the 2023 governorship election are attempts at mending the already dented image of the judiciary and discourage politicians from relying on technicalities arising from INEC guidelines and constitution to climb to office but rather work hard to impress the electorates and gain their votes at the polling booths. but in their efforts to redeem their image, they have created deeper confusion and more injustice.
I am not a lawyer, but my study of the recent pronouncements by the Supreme Court being a court of policy whose decisions in most cases are not predicated on provisions of the law but on many other considerations majorly national interest and security. but their recent pronouncements appear more as Protest Judgments aimed at discouraging politicians from burdening the courts with petitions after elections.
Truth be told, the recent pronouncements of the Apex Court have thrown the entire political landscape into serious confusion, defeated the essence of the electoral act, and murdered internal party democracy.
The Supreme Court ruling which no doubt has straightened the needless controversy on the jurisdictional ambit of the Election Petition Tribunal has deepened the confusion in our body politic, in Abia, Hon. Destiny Nwagwu has refused to vacate his seat insisting that though the appeal Court is the final court in matters involving State Assembly and NASS elections, he had insisted in a tone that sounds like self-help citing the recent declaration by the Supreme court, that matters of nomination and sponsorship are internal party matters of which the tribunal and appeal court has no jurisdiction over and therefore has validated his election irrespective of the fact that INEC has withdrawn his Certificate of Return and reissued it to Aaron Uzodike of the PDP who came 2nd in the election.
In Plateau state, the 16 PDP lawmakers are also insisting that their position as validly elected lawmakers has been validated by the Supreme Court since they are all elected through the same process as the governors whom the Supreme Court has declared properly elected despite the clear breach of processes and have gone ahead to petition the NJC on the matter which they rightly consider as injustice.
There is no doubt that our judicial system is reputed for corruption, but does it mean that the panel of appellate court Jurists who ought to know and should know ended up not knowing, or was it a case of justice for sale?
To all those whom the Appeal Court sacked for non-compliance to the Electoral Act 2022 as amended please accept your fate as casualties of a failed and corrupt judicial system because it has been proven to be an impossible act to reverse the decisions of Courts of last instance as such attempts usually meet a brick wall.
Aguoru
Writes From Umuahia
