{"id":66378,"date":"2019-04-29T06:04:13","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T05:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=66378"},"modified":"2019-04-29T06:04:13","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T05:04:13","slug":"when-judges-turn-king-makers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/when-judges-turn-king-makers\/","title":{"rendered":"WHEN JUDGES TURN KING MAKERS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\u00a0By Adamu Gwazuwang.<\/div>\n
\n
\nOnce upon a time elections were simple selections by consensus. There
\nwas no question of unsuitability, unpopularity or rigging because it was
\nas all-inclusive as possible for the community-based constituencies and
\nconsensus was unanimously accepted as the expression of the will of the
\nvisible majority. That was then.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, elections have become a hydra-headed political process with
\neach process constituting a threat to democracy. The campaigns involve
\nhighly antagonistic encounters between the mainly youthful, exuberant
\nand intoxicated thugs of the contending parties, mere mercenaries
\nmanipulated for mayhem. Then the elections process emerges from the
\npreceding baptism of fire, primed to ignite its own deadly
\nconfrontations, as champions of violence overwhelm the right to choose
\nand democracy takes cover.<\/p>\n

What Atiku Abubakar is going through in Nigeria today represents the
\nmost recent manifestation in the deconstruction of democracy whereby the
\narbiter usurps the role of the kingmaker, preying on the evident
\ndisplacement of consensus and compromise for the greater good of the
\nmajority by the inordinate and irreconcilable greed for political power,
\nbeyond the legitimacy of popular support, especially among those who
\nhave eaten the forbidden fruit of \u201cincumbency\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian judiciary, or rather, Nigerian judges have effectively
\ncolonized the democratic space with their self-determined interpretative
\njurisdiction over purely political matters of popular mandate to govern
\nthe affairs of people at the approved tiers. As a result, they too have
\nsuccumbed to the virulent virus that manipulated the minds of people to
\nplace self above service in the warped perception of the import of
\ncampaigns, elections and ultimately democracy.<\/p>\n

The masses have wizened up to the judicial masquerades\u2019 acquisition of
\nproprietary rights over their civic duty of voting for their leaders by
\ndemocratic process. They are agitated by the straight-faced demeanor of
\nagents of the third arm of government who, as it were, used the judicial
\nbackdoor to overtake the process and import of elections and exercise an
\nundemocratic, autonomous, authoritative and conclusive fiat on the
\nemergence of \u201celected\u201d leaders in the Executive and Legislature. When
\nyou add the shocking exposure of casino-scale caches of foreign currency
\nstowed away in judges homes, you get a noxious potent brew of pent-up
\npublic discontent against \u201cpolitical judges\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is the ominous background to the increasing public political
\nvigilance on the composition of judges for review of especially the
\nAtiku Abubakar election appeal petition. There is a widespread\u00a0 build-up
\nof resentment at the likelihood of the President of the Court of Appeal,
\nZainab Bulkachuwa, for example, either presiding or selecting judges for
\nthe election appeal panel when she is spouse of APC chieftain and the
\nAPC Senator-Elect from Bauchi state, who was curiously \u201cgranted\u201d the
\nticket without participating in the primaries!<\/p>\n

The principle of insulating the judiciary from politics now has
\ncorollary in the imperative of isolating elective politics from judicial
\nmanipulation borne out of the extra-judicial leanings and tendencies of
\njudges. In the case of the Atiku Election Appeal therefore, it is
\nstrongly advocated that a more dispassionate and transparently
\nindependent selection process be adopted in determining the judges to
\nhear the appeal such as balanced geo-political representation and\/or
\nseniority status of judges of the Court of Appeal, excluding of course,
\nthe unavoidably tainted.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, it will be in the judges\u2019 interest that they are
\nseen to be fair and just in their handling of critical cases pertaining
\nto the determination of political\/election outcome disputes like the
\nAtiku case against President Buhari\u2019s INEC declared victory. The era of
\nadjudicating for a nation of illiterate and helpless citizenry has long
\ngone as some of the election upsets proved in the last elections. Even
\nat the Supreme Court where the buck of judicial king-making stops, these
\nrumbling undercurrents of public political vigilance must not be
\nneglected. Unless there is some rational harmony between popular
\nexpectation and judicial pronouncement on election outcome disputes the
\npeople who have been watching helplessly may decide to act for
\nslef-help.<\/p>\n

Adamu Gwazuwang, a public analyst and commentator writes from Abuja.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By Adamu Gwazuwang. Once upon a time elections were simple selections by consensus. 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