When on October 25, 2023, the Supreme Court fixed Thursday, October 26, to deliver final judgements in the two surviving petitions challenging the legality or otherwise of the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as winner of the last presidential election, many Nigerians received the news with mixed feelings as a result of the muffled belief that justice will not be done. It was circulated in many quarters that the ability of the Supreme Court to deliver justice was more of utopic feeling. This is because of the obvious, which points to the fact that many had lost faith in the judiciary, the Supreme Court most especially; no thanks to the myriad of controversial judgments it has delivered in recent times.
The petitions in question were those filed by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his counterpart in the Labour Party (LP), Peter Gregory Obi.
A 7-man panel of Justices of the Court led by Justice John Inyang Okoro had earlier taken final arguments from lawyers to the parties in the petitions. The Justices had thereafter reserved their judgments.
As foreseen, the seven-man justices dismissed all the appeals including the fresh evidence of tinubu’s alleged certificate forgery, thereby upholding the lower court’s September 6, 2023 judgment. They ruled that the opposition appeals over claims of fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for president lacked merit.
Thereafter, reactions trailed the judgment of the Supreme Court affirming the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu. The Labour Party (LP) alleged that the legislative and judicial arms of government have been hijacked by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while the PDP dismissed the judgment as disappointing and concerning.
At a press briefing hours after the apex court dismissed the appeals, LP’s Chairman, Julius Abure said the party is disappointed but has decided to charge on and remain optimistic for what the future holds for the nation.
According to Abure, what happened from the day of the 2023 presidential election to now showed that the nation was sliding towards dictatorship.
“We are indeed very shocked and surprised that even the apex court will toe the line of an earlier judgement in spite of all the flaws associated with the judgement delivered by the Presidential Election Appeal Tribunal.
“Having conclusively exercised our fundamental rights as gifted to us by the laws of the land, we have no other choice but to move on. We may be disappointed and dismayed by the outcome of the exercise but we have chosen to trudge on and to remain optimistic of what the future holds for the nation.
“We weep for our institutions that cannot rise to the occasion and courageously defend democracy and the voices of our people.
“However, there are great lessons to be learnt. What transpired in Nigeria since the February 25 presidential election is a clear testament that our institutions are not working and that we may be sliding towards dictatorship. It is very clear that the executive has hijacked both the judiciary and the legislature. This is so unfortunate for our democracy and it is even more for the people of Nigeria.
“All what our forbearers taught us has been destroyed within a short space of time because of the unbridled ambition of a few. The founding fathers fought with their lives to achieve independence for the country.
“People lost their lives for the struggle to keep our democracy and all these years people have been struggling to achieve electoral and constitutional reforms. Regrettably, all of these efforts and struggles have been destroyed today,” Abure said.
On its part, the PDP expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court judgment, saying that the apex court has failed Nigerians.
The party expressed its reservations over the judgment through a press statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, and made available to The Boss.
The party holds that the majority of Nigerians are “alarmed, disappointed and gravely concerned with the reasoning of the Supreme Court which the PDP believes is against the express provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, the Guideline and Regulation issued by INEC under which the election was conducted”.
The party further “asserts that it is indeed a sad commentary for our democracy that the Supreme Court failed to uphold the provisions of the law. Instead, it trashed the expectation of majority of Nigerians who looked up to it as a Temple of Impartiality to deliver substantial justice in the matter having regards to the laws and facts of the case.
“Nigerians earnestly expected the Supreme Court to uphold and defend the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution in terms of qualification and minimum requirement for a winner to be declared in a Presidential election in Nigeria especially with regards to the required statutory 25% of votes in the FCT as well as issues of violation of electoral Rules and Guidelines, brazen manipulations and alterations of election results by the APC.
“Nigerians are still at a loss as to how the Supreme Court condoned the serious issues of forgery, falsehood and perjury on the altar of technicalities.
“The general gloom, melancholy and sense of despondency across the country upon the delivery of the judgment is an ominous sign of eerie situation which portend grave consequences because of the disappointment embedded in the judgment.
“This judgment by the Supreme Court has evidently shaken the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court as the last hope of the common man.
“The PDP remains undeterred and charges Nigerians not to be discouraged or allow the judgment to detract from their collective quest for the entrenchment of a credible electoral system that can guarantee a government that truly derive its legitimacy from the people.”
More legal practitioners have also lent their voices to what many Nigerians have labeled a travesty of justice at the Supreme Court, using the judgment that affirmed Tinubu as Duly Elected as case study.
One of these legal icons is the just retired justice of the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, who bowed out on Friday having attained the statutory retirement age of 70, with not less than 47 years in the judiciary, 10 of which was as a Supreme Court justice.
His retirement day speech opened up a can of stinking worms in legal practice, especially at the apex court. He also exposed the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kayode Ariwoola and the Supreme Court as a whole as an institution of bias and ineptitude.
In his speech, the justice opened a new conversation on the enormous powers the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) wields, and how the present CJN has deliberately starved some regions, especially the South East of representation in the apex court among other revelations.
With no holds barred, His Lordship systematically dissected the politics of ethnicity in the apex court, saying that he is leaving the Supreme Court worse than he met it.
Dattijo, among many other accusations alleged as follows:
“As presently structured the CJN is Chairman of the NJC which oversees both the appointment and discipline of judges, he is equally Chair of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) which recommends those selected for appointment to the NJC, the National Judicial Institute (NJI) and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) which appoints Senior Advocates of Nigeria. In my considered opinion the oversight functions of these bodies should not rest on an individual alone. A person with absolute power, it is said, corrupts easily and absolutely.
“As Chair of NJC, FJSC, NJI, and LPPC, appointments as council, board and committee members are at his pleasure. He neither confers with fellow justices nor seeks their counsel or input on any matter related to these bodies. He has both the final and the only say. The CJN has the power to appoint 80 percent of members of the council and 60 percent of members of FJSC. The same applies to NJC and LPPC. The power of being appointed a judge of any court rests squarely on him. Such enormous powers can be abused. Such enormous powers are effortlessly abused. This needs to change. Continued denial of the existence of this threatening anomaly weakens effective judicial oversight in the country.
“By the provision of Paragraph 20 of Part One of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, the NJC shall comprise the following Members: the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who shall be the Chairman; the next most senior Justice of the Supreme Court who shall be the Deputy Chairman. Regrettably, the next most senior Justice of the Supreme Court like Deputy Governors of States, shorn of any official function except at the pleasure of the Governor, is neither consulted on anything nor does he have any official function. His job as No. 2 is purely as the CJN pleases. It is incumbent that the system provides for more inclusion and consultation among stakeholders.
“The conversation about the diminishing number of justices of Nigeria’s Supreme Court has become a refrain. As I bow out today, the number is further reduced to 10 against the Constitutional requirement of 21 justices. That this avoidable depletion has affected the court and will further affect the court and Nigerians is stating the obvious.
“We are in an election season where the Election Tribunals and appellate courts are inundated with all manner of petitions and appeals. The Supreme Court is the final court in the Presidential, Governorship, and National Assembly election appeals. Yet, there are only 10 justices left to determine these matters. Constitutionally, each of these appeals requires a panel of seven justices to sit on them. When a panel of seven justices is constituted to sit on a particular appeal, only three justices are left out. Even when regular appeals are being heard in the Supreme Court, a panel of five justices is required to sit.
“We must not forget that the Supreme Court, being the highest court in the land receives all manner of appeals from the court below. Presently, there is neither limit nor distinction to the manner of appeals that come to the apex court. Again, beside election matters which are seasonal, the Supreme Court’s docket is overflowing with civil and criminal appeals, some of which took many years to arrive. Most of these are still pending. Several have not even been assigned hearing dates. The court also exercises original jurisdiction.
“As the justices who hear these matters are grossly overstretched, unable to meet the demands of their onerous assignment, the appellants who came to us seeking justice are left in limbo; waiting endlessly for justice to be served. These as I said before, are avoidable.
Rivers State Governor, Similaya Fubara, has taken a swipe at the Martin Amaewhule-led group of lawmakers at the state House of Assembly and declared that they do not exist anymore in the eyes of the law.
“Let me say it here, those groups of men who claim that they are assembly members, they do not exist. I want it to be on the record,” Fubara declared
The governor stated this when he received on courtesy visit the Bayelsa State delegation of political and traditional leaders, led by former Governor of the State, Senator Seriake Dickson, at Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Fubara and 26 members of the assembly loyal to former governor, Nyesom Wike, have been at loggerheads after the move to impeach the governor was thwarted.
He told the delegation that he has been showing restraint since the political crisis escalated in the state.
The governor further stated that despite wielding state powers that he can deploy to achieve his aim, he has continued to act as the big brother in the face of intimidation and unwarranted attacks.
“So, I want you to see the sacrifice I have made to allow peace to be in our state. I can say here, with all amount of boldness, I have never called any policeman anywhere to go and harass anybody.
“I have never gone anywhere to ask anybody to do anything against anybody. But what happens to the people that are supporting me? They are being harassed, they are being arrested and detained.
“There is no week that somebody doesn’t come here with one letter of invitation for trump-up charges and all those things,” he said.
The governor added, “I am saying all these because of what my senior said here. I don’t think the other party has shown any restraint. I am the one who has shown restraint in the face of this crisis.
“I am the one that is badly hit, even when I have all the government instruments to shake up the table. But, why will I do it? I believe that peace is the best relationship to cultivate.”
He revealed that he had always been present at any meeting that was called to resolve the crisis in the state but after each meeting, he was met with a new dimension of the crisis from the opposing side.
He, however, vowed to continue to be peaceful, acknowledging that power is transient.
“We might have our division, but I believe that one day, we could also come together, but it has gotten to a time when I have to make a statement that they are not existing. Their existence is me allowing them to exist. If I de-recognize them, they are nowhere. I want you to see the sacrifice I have made in allowing peace to reign in our state,” he concluded.
With the declaration of the Apppeal Court, sitting in Abuja over the weekend, ordering a stay of proceedings in the contempt charge instituted by Yahaya Bello, former Kogi governor, against Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the stage seems set for an elongation of legal fireworks between the two feuding entities.
The declaration was a follow-up of Bello, who approached the Kogi High Court, seeking an order to issue and serve the respondent (EFCC chairman) with “form 49 notice” to show cause why an order of committal should not be made on him.
The judge, after listening to the arguments of the applicant’s counsel, the submission and the exhibits attached in the written address, granted Bello’s prayers and ordered Olukoyede to be summoned to appear before the court to answer the contempt charge.
However, while it is believed that the crisis of apprehending the former governor for prosecution is an institutional matter, many on the other hand, has accused the EFCC chairman of attaching a lot of personal interest in the matter going by the way he is fighting tooth and nail to see Bello in custody.
In a chat with editors at the EFCC Headquarters, Jabi, Abuja, the anti-graft agency chairman swore to follow the prosecution of Bello to the logical conclusion.
He also vowed that all those who obstructed the arrest of the former governor would be brought to justice.
The EFCC is seeking to arraign Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.
“If I do not personally oversee the completion of the investigation regarding Yahaya Bello, I will tender my resignation as the EFCC Chairman,” Mr Olukoyede had vowed, adding that those who obstructed the arrest of the former governor would be brought to book. This was a veiled accusation against the governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, who used security agents to forestall the arrest of Bello in Abuja.
Olukoyede had also accused Bello of paying his children’s school fees upfront with funds from the atatae coffers.
“A sitting governor moved $720,000 directly from the government account to the Bureau de Change and used it to pay for the school fees of his child in advance in a poor state like Kogi, and you want me close my eyes under the guise that I’m being used. Use by who? At this stage of my life? By who for crying out loud?
“I didn’t initiate the case, I inherited the case file,” he retorted.
The EFCC had sought to arrest Yahaya Bello following his absence from court, and an order by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja after his absence in court.
He was absent from court for his arraignment on a 19-count charge of alleged money laundering to the tune of ₦80bn.
The judge relied on sections 384(4) and (5) of the Administrative and Criminal Justice Act 2015, directing the counsel to the immediate past governor to receive a copy of the charge.
The court held that where it had become impossible to effect personal service of a legal process on a defendant, such could be done through substituted means.
Justice Nwite further held that it was clear that the former governor failed to appear in court for his arraignment.
Notable minds including veteran journalist, Dele Momodu; human advocate and constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome among others have said that the brazen nature with which Olukoyede is going about the matter smacks of personal vendetta, noting that now that the court of appeal has ordered a stay of execution of the contempt of court charges against Olukoyede, everyone must maintain status quotes, and allow Bello to respond to court summon, as the case is now between him and the court of Justice Nwite.
On his part, Momodu has lashed out at the EFCC for selective prosecution, wondering if Olukoyede has any personal stake in the matter, adding that generally the EFCC misfired in the Bello saga.
He said in part, during his Instagram live show:
“I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence. When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.
“How do you expect me to believe everything they said when they were too much in a hurry to prosecute him that they did not take their time to check the file. Once you allow a lacuna in law, everything will fall flat.
“That is it. I am not one of those people who will say because I don’t like APC and because I supported Dino Melaye in the last election in Kogi State. Dino is my guy. But, I will not because of that be blinded by hatred for Yahaya Bello and say yes, he should go and surrender himself to EFCC when there is an existing injunction.
“And he is not the only governor who went to court and if the court has granted him that, so be it. We all know that our judiciary is not so perfect but you know, even at that, law is law, it must be obeyed. If we disobey the rule of law, then, we will have to obey the rule of the jungle. So, I never said that they are lying, it is their own statement that shows that they didn’t do their due diligence.”
TheCable, in its report, recalled that “a Kogi State high court presided over by Isa Jamil Abdullahi, had ordered Olukoyede to appear before it on May 13 to show why he should not be committed to prison for allegedly disobeying its order restraining the EFCC from arresting or taking any action against Bello.
“However, the EFCC chairman filed an appeal against the court summon.
“Olukoyede filed two motions, one seeking a stay of execution of the summon, and another one asking to serve processes on Bello via substituted means by pasting the process at his Abuja residence on No 9 Bengazi Steet Wuse Zone 4.
“In its ruling, a three-member panel of justices led by Joseph Oyewole granted the two motions.
“The appellate court fixed May 20 for the hearing of the substantive appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/413/2024.
“Bello had on February 8, 2024, instituted a fundamental rights enforcement suit, asking the court to declare that “the incessant harassment, threats of arrest and detention, negative press releases, malicious prosecution” by the EFCC, “without any formal invitation, is politically motivated and interference with his right to liberty, freedom of movement, and fair hearing”.
“The former governor also sought an order “restraining the respondent by themselves, their agents, servants or privies from continuing to harass, threaten to arrest or detain him”.
“On February 9, the Kogi high court granted an interim injunction restraining the EFCC from “continuing to harass, threaten to arrest, detain, prosecute Bello, his former appointees, and his staff or family members, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive originating motion for the enforcement of his fundamental rights”.
On March 12, the EFCC filed an appeal against the interim injunction because the court could not stop the commission from carrying out its statutory responsibility.
The Kogi high court delivered judgment on the substantive motion on notice on April 17 wherein the presiding judge granted an order restraining the EFCC “from continuing to harass, threaten to arrest or detain Bello”.
However, the judge directed the commission to file a charge against Bello before an appropriate court if it had reasons to do so.
The judgment coincided with the recent “siege” laid on the Abuja residence of Bello by EFCC operatives seeking to arrest him.
The commission had also obtained a warrant of arrest against the former governor from the federal high court in Abuja.
The EFCC is seeking to arraign Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.
At the scheduled arraignment on April 18, Bello was absent.
At the court session, Abdulwahab Mohammed, counsel to Bello, told Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, that the court lacked jurisdiction to grant the warrant of arrest in the first instance.
He referenced the February 9 interim injunction issued by the Kogi high court, adding that the appeal filed by the EFCC was still pending.
However, the EFCC has filed a notice to withdraw the appeal.
In the notice filed on April 22, the anti-graft agency said the withdrawal was predicated on the fact that events have overtaken the appeal.
The commission also admitted that the appeal was filed out of the time allowed by law.
With the present status, legal minds are of the opinion that matters have returned to status quo, and Justice Emeka Nwite, reserved the right to order Bello’s appearance in court, and await his appearance before any other injunction can be made.
“For now, it is not about who won or who did not. The matters of the case rest with the invitation of Bello by Justice Nwite. Bello was absent during his first summon, and the case was adjourned. So, everyone has to keep the calm and wait for the next hearing and see if he appears or not as directly by his lordship,” Ozekhome noted.
As it is therefore, May 20 will be a deciding factor for both Bello and EFCC as the tussle for who laughs last continues.
.. donates 50 hectares of land for project take-off
Akwa Ibom State Government and the Federal Housing Authority ( FHA) have sealed a new partnership on the Diaspora Home Project, an affordable housing scheme of the President Tinubu Renewed Hope Agenda, with flexible payment programme, for public servants resident in the State.
The partnership was reached as the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, announced a fifty hectares of land donation and any other required state government support, as counterpart facilitation for the federal government housing project during a courtesy visit by a delegation from FHA led by its MD/CEO, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, at Government House, Uyo.
In his words, “I want to assure you sir that we will work together. We have already allocated a piece of land and the Commissioner for Lands will make it available to you.
“Talking about the economic benefits such as creating employment, and all the other areas that you have talked about, we will give you all the necessary support for the benefit of our people,” he said.
Commending the all-inclusive leadership style of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Eno lauded the FHA helmsman for taking steps to collaborate and ensure synergy between the federal agency and governments of the respective states proposed for the project.
This, he said, was similar to the Akwa Ibom approach, where the government does not embark on any project without engaging the stakeholders to know the actual community needs per time, expressing hope that other federal agencies, like the NDDC, would take a cue from the disposition of the FHA.
He reiterated his commitment to supporting and collaboratively working with the President Tinubu-led federal government for the general good of the people, irrespective of their different political affiliations.
“We want to make our people happy and I think that is why God sent us here. We can show to our people that our brother is up there and is helping to bring things back home and I thank Mr. President for being a father to all.
“For us in Akwa Ibom, we will work with him because he is doing his very best. I don’t have to be in APC to support him. So I make it very clear, I am a member of the PDP, but I will support Mr. President always,” Governor Eno affirmed.
In his earlier presentation, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, said housing was a critical component of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government and thanked the Akwa Ibom State Governor for readily supporting FHA’s Diaspora City project with land donation which, he stressed, was a priority requirement for the project.
According to him, besides coming to solicit for land, the FHA under his watch will be willing to collaborate with the state government in the areas of design, the actual building and ensuring off-takers for houses, while assuring of optimal and judicious utilisation of the allocated land.
