Chuks Okocha
10 October 2008
Abuja — Action Congress (AC) has warned against the growing propensity of government officials and others to second-guess the Supreme Court over the cases challenging the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua.
The party said such dangerous past times portend great danger for the judiciary in particular and the country's democracy in general.
A statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said recent comments attributed to President Yar'Adua and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, among others, that the ongoing case of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari is weak and cannot succeed at the apex court, is a condescending portrayal of the apex court."
"It is either these people know something we don't know, or they have nothing but total disdain for the Supreme Court in particular and the judiciary in general," the party said.
"It is also dangerous for our democracy, when those who justifiable feel short changed during elections can no longer have the confidence that they will get justice at the courts, either due to suspected political interference in the work of the courts or a growing cynicism among the citizens on whether the courts can dispense justice without fear or favour," it added.
The party said the Chief Justice of the Federation should repudiate the statements, if only to reassure Nigerians that the statements attributed to these highly-placed Nigerians, who seem to know the Supreme Court more than itself, do not reflect the truth.
It also called on all stakeholders, including the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), National Judicial Council (NJC), to condemn the development in very unambiguous terms.
"We are worried because we recall that similar claims made before the ruling of the Court of Appeal on the petitions by Gen. Buhari and our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against the presidential election have proved to be true," AC said.
The party said President Yar'Adua's bravado and his 100 per cent assurance of victory - crudely conveyed by his spokesman - could only underminethe rule of law mantra of his administration and send a wrong signals to the citizenry."Already, people like Alhaji Abubakar Rimi seem to have latched on to the statement to attempt to ridicule Buhari's case, going by his recent commentsin the media. That is the kind of bandwagon effect that we feared. This will continue, especially from those seeking to ingratiate themselves to thePresident, for as long as nothing is done to repudiate the comments," AC said.It said the unfortunate statements, coming at a time of growing uncertainties about the direction of the courts on the various election petitions, havefurther reinforced the belief in certain circles that there is a clandestine attempt by the powers that be to pervert the course of justice.However, the party reiterated its faith in the judiciary, despite efforts by those who should know better to cast aspersion on that critical tier of government.
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