The Supreme Court has swiftly doused upsurge of vitriolic attacks on its judges by some Nigerians over what they see as ‘a miscarriage of justice.’
The attacks were ably amplified after its judgement affirming the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yobe North Senatorial district.
“Our silence must not be mistaken for weakness or cowardice,” the court warned in a statement by its Director of Press and Information, Festus Akande, on Saturday.
Also read: Supreme Court Declares Sen Lawan Yobe North APC Candidate
In the statement that doubled down on the propriety of the Supreme Court’s widely criticised judgement, the court singled out a renowned columnist and professor at Kennesaw State University in the United States, Farouk Kperogi, saying his criticisms were as dictated to him by his paymasters.
The Supreme Court’s statement tallies with recent vow by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau that lawyers criticising the court’s decisions would face sanction.
Controversial ruling
The Supreme Court’s split decision affirming Mr Lawan as the candidate of the APC for the Yobe North senatorial district in the forthcoming general elections triggered a widespread outrage shortly after it was delivered on Monday.
The majority of three judges of the court’s panel of five had ruled in favour of Mr Lawan despite what the public believed to be his non-participation in the senatorial primary election.
As of the time the senatorial primary election for Yobe North senatorial district had been concluded, Mr Lawan was jostling for the presidential ticket of the APC which he eventually lost. Bashir Machina emerged as the winner of the senatorial primary election.
But the APC would later claim to have within 24 hours after the presidential primary contest organised another primary election won by Mr Lawan, a case the Supreme Court’s decision lent credence to.
Criticisms
Many have criticised the judgements with Mike Igini, a former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State, saying it would kill internal party democracy.
Nigeria’s judiciary has not lived up to expectation, according to Mike Igini, former Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State.
He said this while reacting to some pronouncements of the apex court.
Igini, who featured on an ARISE TV programme, recounted some judicial pronouncements which sparked controversies in the past.
“For instance, the June 12 crisis, look at how the judiciary itself was used to truncate it. In a letter signed for the annulment of June 12 in 1993, the military government of the day declared that they had to annul the June 12 election to avert judicial anarchy.
“In 2007, the presidential ballot papers were not serialized, the matter went to court and eventually the election was declared valid. It took a President Yar’Adua of blessed memory to acknowledge that the election was flawed. Recall I wrote that the 2007 election without the ballot paper being serialized should be annulled. But it took a vote of just one justice of the Supreme Court to affirm such a process that represents the lowest level of democratic discredit.”
He also commented on the Supreme Court judgements in favour of Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal upheld the duo of Bashir Machina and Udom Ekpoudom elections as the validly nominated flag bearers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the senatorial district polls in Yobe and Akwa Ibom states, respectively.
But the Supreme Court overturned the decisions of the two lower courts and held that they were wrong to have assumed jurisdiction in the suit, since the issue of candidate nomination lies with political parties.
The apex court subsequently dismissed Ekpoudom and Machina, as authentic candidates of the APC, for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, and Yobe North Senatorial District.
Igini said, ‘‘It’s a tragedy in our country that days to the elections, we are still talking about party primaries issues that ought to have been dealt with months ago. The judiciary, which should be the last line of defense of democracy and the rule of law historically, has not lived up to expectation.
“I’m worried and I’ve said it over time even before the judgement that Nigeria will die because of lack of commitments of all the members of the bar and bench to the survival of our democracy. We need a fearless judiciary that will stand tall and mighty in defence of democracy and the rule of law.
“Two kinds of corruption must be avoided; the corruption of judicial officer, and the corruption in the institution of the judiciary by way of the people trying to intimidate the judiciary, pressure the judiciary and do all kinds of things.
“Our quest for a fearless and courageous and independent judiciary, will be meaningless and hopeless if we do not also protect very courageous judges that will stand tall and call justice by their own names.”
Also, Mr Kperogi, in a vitriolic attack contained in a statement he issued shortly after the judgement on Mr Lawan’s case was delivered, said the court’s judgement violated common sense and called it “a blatant case of justice for sale.”
“It’s a well-planned judicial choreography,” the professor of Journalism and Emerging Media said, and went on to describe the Supreme Court as one of the “most hopeless Supreme Court” in world history.
The scholar likened the decision to some other recent judgements of the court such as the one affirming Godswill Akpabio as the APC’s candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial election and the one that installed Hope Uzodinma as the governor of Imo State in 2020.
This, according to him, showed that the Supreme Court was, “without a doubt, a rotten gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits”. “The highest bidder gets their judgement.”
Reaction to anger
Reacting to Mr Kperogi’s comments and similar attacks from various individuals and groups, the spokesperson for the court said the scholar was a pen-happy serial verbal assailant.
The statement read in part: “In an ineptly scripted toxic article, one Farooq Adamu Kperogi, who described himself as a Nigerian-American Professor, decided to plunge into an abysmal pit of irredeemable ignorance by venting convoluted anger on Supreme Court Justices with a view to pleasing his paymasters.
‘‘We have made it abundantly clear at different occasions that Judicial Officers are neither political office holders nor politicians that should be dressed in such robes.”
It continued, “Our silence must not be mistaken for weakness or cowardice. Certainly, every Nigerian citizen has inalienable right to express his or her opinion without any encumbrance; but even in the course of expressing such fundamental right, we should be circumspect enough to observe the caution-gate of self-control in order not to infringe on another person’s right.
‘‘Even in a state of emotional disequilibrium, we should be reasonable enough to make a good choice of decent words, as every word employed by the pen-happy Kperogi only succeeded in portraying the kind of vacuum that sign-posts all that he has as academic accomplishment.
‘‘I believe those who possess similar credentials with him are obviously ashamed of celebrating any form of affinity with such a character that has an odious reputation for being a serial verbal assailant over the years, as he sees nothing good in anything good. He has only succeeded in inflicting upon himself a mood of bellicose jingoism which does not represent a mark of honour for any discerning mind or academic, the world over.”
According to it, it urged the public to disabuse its mind of insinuations that the Supreme Court might have been bought over. He added that Courts don’t advertise or scout for cases for adjudication; but at the same time, we are duty-bound to adjudicate on all matters that come before us with a view to giving justice to whoever justice is due, irrespective of status.
‘‘No Court in any clime is a Father Christmas; so, no one can get what he or she didn’t ask for. Similarly, all matters are thoroughly analysed and considered based on their merits and not the faces that appear in Court or sentiments that attempt to becloud the sense of reasoning.
“So, for anyone in his or her right frame of mind to insinuate that the Justices have been bought over by some unknown and unseen persons is, to say the least, a bizarre expression of ignorance, which definitely has no place in law or even in the realm of pedestrian reasoning.”
The statement blamed political parties for their inability to manage their affairs which have resulted in their crises spilling to the courts for adjudication, and resulting in unnecessary public scrutiny of the courts.
“If political parties conduct themselves well and orderly too, the Courts would definitely handle less cases and the political atmosphere will be much healthier than it is currently. We shall continuously do our best to discharge our constitutional responsibility to keep the country together and move the nation along the path of peace, progress and development. Attacks by groups, political parties or individuals under any guise will not deter us, rather it will boost our resolve to do more for the country.
‘‘It is not only petty but equally very unreasonable for anyone to hurriedly link the Hon. CJN Ariwoola to his state of origin and tribe simply because of a particular judgment of the Court. The major problem of Nigeria has always been the undue emphasis of religion and ethnicity in all our dealings. As long as we continue along that path, progress will remain a mirage.
“Most times, some people try as much as possible to disingenuously stand logic on its head to show their level of unimaginable dexterity. Those who have cultivated the unfashionable penchant of always attacking the Judiciary over every judgment or ruling given should better have a rethink and start channelling such robust energy into some ventures that are more developmental than destructive.
‘‘We are not politicians and should not, by any stroke of imagination, be cast in that mould either. Nobody’s interest can ever supersede the interest of everybody. Nigeria is bigger than everyone of us. A word is enough for the wise,” the statement added.
