The concept of Justice is not a natural phenomenon to humans who are naturally prone to unjust and selfish actions, but the struggle for justice remains one of the noblest acts in society. The pursuit of justice in Nigeria has come under very intense attack lately, and even more worrisome is the fact that it is the institution which is being looked up to protect the rule of law that is now raping it gruesomely.
The judiciary in Nigeria is confronted with a challenge of credibility that is as old as the return of democracy in 1999. Bearing in mind all the things that have happened, especially with shocking court decisions that reek of compromise, many Nigerians now look at the courts either with untold suspicion or utter derision.
It was Muntaka Coomassie JSC (of blessed memory) who famously branded the Nigerian judiciary as the last hope of the common man, sadly, that notion has now quietly transmuted into becoming the ‘Lost’ hope of the common man. Nigerians are increasingly becoming frustrated with the judiciary and the choice of litigation is becoming old-fashioned such that people perceive going to court as going to subvert justice and twist truths.
This situation is further compounded by the fact that Nigeria is a country that has quite a number of sore losers and those for whom triumphalism is a favourite hobby; the crisis of confidence the judiciary has suffered for many years running is manifesting itself in the fact that whichever way a court leans in its judgment, there is always the tendency for the losing party to sulk and say that the court was compromised.
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Be that as it may, given the fact that justice is rooted in confidence with the perception being everything; the die is always cast the day people begin to doubt each verdict handed down by the courts, especially in matters that are very consequential that is arrived at after money morphed into the overriding motivation.
Earlier in the week, many Nigerians were awoken by the news of how the Nigerian Supreme Court shockingly did some ‘Abracadabra’ on the primary election loss of the President of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmed Lawan. Of course, many Nigerians never saw it coming especially after Lawan himself has publicly confirmed to Nigerians that he had given in to the course of justice as prescribed by lower courts in the case under question. However, for a number of Nigerians who are quite familiar with the worsening state of things in the country’s judiciary, they were already mentally prepared for such eventualities especially after the same Supreme Court affirmed Godswill Akpabio’s fraudulent primary barely a week ago. The whole game looked quite carefully orchestrated, to put it mildly.
Recent controversial judgments that have made their way out of Nigerian courts, particularly the apex courts, solidify the perception that indeed the Nigerian Supreme Court is easily the most hopeless Supreme Court in the history of the world’s supreme courts. The courts have simply thrown decency and caution to the wind and are now chasing shadows while swimming in shameful mediocrity.
Many Nigerians will not easily forget the fact that it was the same apex Court that violated common sense and the will of the Nigerian electorate when she handed to the people of Imo State a brand new ‘Supreme Court’ Governor in Hope Uzodinma who never even pretended to have won an election in the first place. Now using the same formula, the same morally bankrupt institution that is supposed to be infallible has now given the people of Yobe and Akwa Ibom states ‘Supreme Court Senate candidate’ in Lawan and Akpabio who were never validly nominated by their party candidates in the first place.
Many Nigerian political watchers would recall that in June last year, while Lawan and Akpabio were busy trying to grab the Presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), other serious people were busy contesting the Senatorial tickets of the party. However, after disgracefully losing out, Lawan immediately swung into action by unsuccessfully attempting to beg Machina to stand down for him. The astonishingly determined Machina stood his grounds and insisted that his dream of going to the Red Chambers must be actualised, however, unknown to Nigerians, Lawan had a judicial coup up his sleeves. The sad truth today is that the Supreme Court just declared Lawn as the winner of a contest he didn’t participate in. This is the height of absurdity!
Ever since that judgement was delivered, quite a number of arguments have been put forward by legal practitioners but the truth remains that no matter how someone tries to spin it, what will never change is the fact that Lawan never participated in the APC Senatorial primary election which was held on May 28, 2022. Before that date, he was on record to have voluntarily withdrawn to participate in the presidential primary of the APC which was held on June 8, 2023. Should one even go with Lawan’s lame argument that another primary was conducted by the APC on June 9, where he purportedly emerged, it was in breach of Section 84 (5) of the Electoral Act and Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution, as the APC never cancelled the one held on May 28 before organising another. To make matters worse, the APC never gave INEC the stipulated 21-day notice mandated by the law to conduct such a primary election.
There is a growing concern in Nigeria that this Supreme Court is relying too much on technicalities in recent times to decide important cases. Yet, even from the definition of the term given by the late Justice Niki Tobi who at some point was a Supreme Court judge himself, it is obvious that legal technicality neither promotes the end of justice nor advances the good of any society.
The judgement against Machina was nothing but a case of a blatant case of justice for sale. Nigeria’s Supreme Court is, without a doubt, a rotten gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits. Recent judgments from the ‘dishallowed’ chamber of the Nigerian judiciary lays credence to the notion that the highest bidder is always the beneficiary of favourable judgements.
To even paint a more worrisome picture, judges in the Nigerian judicial system no longer hide their corruption and strong tendencies to pervert justice. Contrary to the judicial oaths they swore, they have now formed the habit of openly cavorting with politicians whose cases they sit in judgement over. They are greedy, grasping, unprincipled desperados who need money, and it is only natural that anybody who gives them the most money gets the most favourable judgement.
Just like Akpabio openly canvassed just a few years ago, when he popularised the notion that whatever money cannot do in Nigeria more money can do it. Many players in the Nigerian system have mastered the art of buying up judges and rendering them useless. Today, politicians now boast of their connections in the judiciary openly!
Lately, the Nigerian judiciary has been in the eye of a powerful storm. Many Nigerian judges have been accused of corruption and miscarriage of justice due to alleged pressure from authorities and vested interests. These acts and others make many Nigerians doubt the integrity of the country’s judicial system.
Never before in the history of the country has the judiciary been at the centre of so damaging an allegation of graft and misconduct.
While there may never have really been a time when Nigerians viewed the judiciary as being above reproach, the current happenings suggest that those who should dispense justice in the country are deeply involved in the shame.
In conclusion, Nigerians must understand that until they start sanitising the system, things will continue to get worse. To sanitise the system, their best bet will be to insist that the country be restructured. It won’t be a bad idea if all the regions in the country get to have their own supreme court and dispense judgments that truly reflect the values and belief system of the people. Nigerians must use their voices now or never to effect the kind of changes they want to see.
