Daily Independent (Lagos)
Olufemi A. Ifaturoti Esq.
5 December 2008
opinion
"Justice delayed is justice denied" goes a well worn adage in legal circles. Never has it been more relevant than in the management of adjudicative mechanism for applicants seeking redress following the widely reported large scale irregularities in the April 2007 elections. It will be recalled the elections were generally acclaimed by the international community, including he European Union Observer team to be the worst elections ever in the annals of the country's political history, as the same was marred with electoral malpractices, violence and fraud.
So poignant was this atmosphere of condemnation and rejection that President Umar Musa Yar'Adua, in an uncommon display of candour (perhaps occasioned by pangs of a guilty consequence), conceded in his inaugural speech that the elections fell short of all civilised standards of fairness and called for a healing of wounds while stretching his hand of fellowship to the opposition to come aboard and move Nigeria forward. In fact, he speedily constituted an electoral reform committee, under the leadership of Honourable Justice Uwais (rtd).
It is a matter for regret that the outcome of the committee's work is yet to see the light of the day or are we to assume that the findings are a clean bill of health in which case it will henceforth be business as usual, without any need for reform? While we await the slow coach of reform, one key factor that has bedevilled the entire issue is the pace of justice before the adjudicative fora prescribed by law.
All lovers of democracy and due judicial process devotees watch helplessly as they are treated to a bizarre repertoire of the absurd replicated across the nation. Once the incumbent whose electoral "victory" secured by electoral fraud is annulled before a tribunal, his attorney addresses the crowd of associates and pressmen outside the court premises. "We will appeal," he swears, and within a few days, he files some cosmetic documents. Then the long, tortuous wait, during which the incumbent mops up the resources and assets of State. Little wonder that the former governor of a state who was recently shown the way out of the State House by the Court of Appeal allegedly mopped up a billion Naira as Security votes (in peace times) during the perod between the hearing of the Appeal and the judgment.
Throwing a frivolous appeal into the works has now become the prime tool by power usurpers and all those who must cling indecently to stolen mandate and their odious scheme seems to be sadly complimented by shameful delays in the appellate level of redress. Justice is being delayed and, I dare say, denied in Oyo State, so it is in Ondo State. The Court of Appeal is the "last bus stop" in election petition matters (except presidential). It has failed to display the diligence expected of it in such a critical undertaking. It has unwittingly keyed into the ignoble scheme of desperadoes, anti-democratic and reactionary elements that abound in the ruling party.
One of the many lessons of our peculiar political experience is that it is possible to get Judgement without getting Justice. In Edo State, Oshiomole got judgment almost a year ago, but justice eluded him until a fortnight ago. Adulrahman Mimiko got judgment ages ago, he is yet to get justice. Rauf Aregbesola, the Osun State Action Congress gubernatorial candidate has, to date, got neither judgment nor justice.
The teeming supporters of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, the Oyo State All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) gubernatorial candidate, are at a loss to fathom the real reason behind the Court of Appeal's delay in the hearing and determination of his appeal filed over eight months ago, against the decision of the election petitions tribunal which upheld the election of Christopher Alao-Akala. Obviously, they are not impressed with the lame duck excuse of Ramadan fasting unabashedly rendered sometime ago by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi.
It will be recalled that in 1979, when late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, UPN Presidential Candidate, challenged the election of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the NPN Candidate, the entire case, appeal and all, was heard and concluded promptly enough for the winner to be sworn in at the appointed date. If the process was so efficient in the 20th century, what then can excuse the current Court of Appeal's dangerous delay in this digital age 21st century?
The all pervading vice grip of the ruling party on INEC and the security forces is now a given. What is scary is the prospect of a similar ambush of the judiciary. Those prospects are indeed very grave, as they can imperil our fragile and tottering democracy. The President of the Court of Appeal is vested with powers, under the Electoral Act, not only to pick members of the lower tribunals, but also to empanel justices to sit over the appeals from all election tribunals. The concentration of such huge powers in the hands of a single individual is one of the many puzzles of our electoral legislation, and one, which ordinarily engages the interest of any body of persons set up to reform our electoral process. Unto whom much is given, a whole lot is desired. Two things are clearly wrong with these provisions; the first is the enormity of the powers conferred, while the second is the concentration of the same in the hands of one who chose to prioritise his religious preference, while the political fortunes and socio-economic development of the larger citizenry (including his fellow faithfuls) remained precariously on hold. All these developments have called into question how credibly the Court of Appeal has managed the strategic position it occupies in all matters, adjudicative and administrative, relating to electoral disputes.
A call is been made that all those interested in true reform and justice to put in place effective legislative and operational mechanism to ensure that time limitations are set and complied with, and that justice be not frustrated through the chicanery and manipulation of a few. Perhaps, a good place to start will be to prune down the powers vested in the office of the President of the Court of Appeal, and to vest the power to appoint panels hearing appeals from election petitions upon the Chief Justice of Nigeria. This is not this writer's original thought. It has been canvassed by observers of the political scene, including eminent jurist and President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN.
All lawyers, pro-democracy activists, civil society groups and lovers of peace and due process must join in a renewed burst of advocacy for a review of the Electoral Act, such that aggrieved persons can obtain not only judgment, but JUSTICE.
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