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How to Stop Judicial Coups Against Democracy in Nigeria

Published

1 year ago

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“It’s now so bad that courting the votes of the electorates is no longer an important component of the democratic process since politicians can get from the courts what they lost at the ballot box. That’s a dangerous state for any democracy to be in.”

How to Stop Judicial Coups Against Democracy in Nigeria
By Farooq A. Kperogi
Twitter: @farooqkperogi

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), one of Nigeria’s most prominent pro-democracy NGOs, invited me to make a virtual presentation from my base in Atlanta to a national seminar it organized last Thursday on “targeted judicial reforms and enhanced judicial integrity in post-election litigation.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, but here are the thoughts I would have shared on the topic.

It’s oddly ironic that the judiciary, which should be the bulwark of democracy, has become such a dreadful terror to democracy that people are seeking to protect democracy from it. The courts have become the graveyards of electoral mandates. Judges have not only descended to being common purchasable judicial rogues, but they have also become juridical coup plotters.

The major preoccupation of pro-democracy activists is no longer how to keep the military from politics and governance but how to save democracy from the judiciary. In other words, in Nigeria, our problem is no longer fear of military coups but the cold reality of frighteningly escalating judicial coups.

A “judicial coup,” also called a juridical coup d’état, refers to a situation where judicial or legal processes are deployed to subvert the choice of the electorate or to unfairly change the power structure of an existing government.

In other words, a judicial coup occurs when the courts are used to achieve political ends that would not be possible through standard political processes. In a judicial coup, the courts make rulings or interpretations of the law that drastically alter the balance of power, often favoring a particular political group or leader.

This can include invalidating election results, removing elected officials from office, altering the constitution through interpretive tyranny, or other significant legal actions that have profound political implications.

Before 2023, judicial coups happened in trickles and were barely perceptible. The big, bad bugaboo used to be INEC. When the Supreme Court made Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi the governor of Rivers State on October 25, 2007, without winning a single vote, we thought it was merely a curious, one-off democratic anomaly that was nonetheless morally justified because Celestine Omehia—who won the actual votes cast on April 14, 2007, and sworn in as the governor on May 29—was illegally replaced as PDP’s candidate after Amaechi won the party’s primary election.

Our collective toleration of this strange supersession of normal democratic procedures to produce a governor conduced to more aberrations.

On January 14, 2020, the Supreme Court produced its first unofficial “Supreme Court governor” in Hope Uzodimma of Imo State when it used dazzlingly fraudulent judicial abracadabra to subvert the outcome of the governorship election in the state.

The Supreme Court’s judicial helicopter zoomed past PDP’s Emeka Ihedioha who won 273,404 votes to emerge as the winner of the election; flew past Action Alliance’s Uche Nwosu who came second with 190,364 votes; zipped past APGA’s Ifeanyi Ararume who came third with 114,676 votes; and glided gently into the yard of fourth-place finisher Uzodimma of APC with only 96,458 votes.

It then declared that the fourth shall be the first, enthroned Uzodimma as the governor, and dethroned Ihedioha whom Imo voters and INEC had chosen as the legitimate governor.

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I recall being too numb by the scandal of the judgment to even experience any sensation of righteous indignation. Then came the Ahmed Lawan judgment, and I was jolted to my very bones. A man who didn’t run for an election, who admitted he didn’t run for an election, and who gave up trying to steal an election that he himself admitted he didn’t run for, much less win, was declared the “winner” of the election.

Because I closely followed the case and shaped public discourse on it, I was so incensed by the judgment that, in a viral February 6 social media post, I called Supreme Court justices “a rotten gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits,” which prompted an unexampled official response from the Supreme Court, which dripped wet with undiluted bile.

However, many judges, including some conscientious Supreme Court judges, agreed with me. For example, in his farewell speech last month, Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad re-echoed my sentiments about the Supreme Court and cited former Court of Appeal justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie who, in her own farewell speech, approvingly quoted my description of Supreme Court justices as “a rotten gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits.”

The judicial banditry I talked about has assumed a different, worrying dimension. It has now become full-on judicial sabotage against the soul of democracy itself. In unprecedented judicial roguery, the Appeal Court has invalidated the election of all 16 PDP lawmakers in the Plateau State House of Assembly and handed unearned victories to APC. It also nullified the victory of PDP’s Governor Caleb Mutfwang and asked that APC’s Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, who lost in the actual election, be declared the winner.

The case of the judicial theft of Kano State’s governorship election from NNPP to APC is too well-known to warrant restating. In all these cases, the judiciary invoked matters that were extraneous to the actual vote (called “technicalities”) to decide whom to crown as winners of the elections.

It’s now so bad that courting the votes of the electorates is no longer an important component of the democratic process since politicians can get from the courts what they lost at the ballot box. That’s a dangerous state for any democracy to be in.

The judiciary is becoming an unacceptably treacherous but overpampered monster that is exercising powers that are beyond the bounds of reason. It needs to be stopped through a holistic reworking of the electoral act.

The first thing that needs to be spelled out more clearly and more forcefully in a revised electoral act is that pre-election matters are not litigable after the winner of an election has been announced. All pre-election petitions should be litigated before the conduct of elections. Post-election litigations should be limited to the conduct of the elections. Since this happens once in four years, it should not be too much of a burden for the judiciary.

The second change that needs to be enshrined in a revised electoral act is a provision that divests courts of the powers to declare winners and losers of electoral contests. I am the first to admit that this is problematic because it limits the mechanism for redress available to politicians in cases of INEC-engineered electoral robberies.

But in situations where courts can glibly overrule the will of the electorate by invoking procedural inanities that are extrinsic to elections to declare winners and losers, I would rather deal with INEC alone.

The conduct of elections can be improved in the future to the point that manipulations can be significantly reduced. But I can’t say the same for a rapacious, unjust, and mercenary judiciary such as we have today.

In any case, in all functional democracies, it is voters, not the courts, who elect and remove people from positions of political power. If the courts find sufficient evidence of irregularities in the conduct of elections, they can order a rerun. But they should never be invested with the power to declare winners and losers.

The last suggestion I have for the revision of the electoral act is to constitutionalize the imperative to finalize the adjudication of all election petitions before the inauguration of elected officials into their offices. There are two reasons for this.

First, it is disruptive to put elected officials through the hassles of post-election litigation while they are already officially in office. Governance is often put on hold during the pendency of litigations, and lots of state resources are expended to bribe judges, hire lawyers, and bring witnesses. That’s unfair to Nigerians.

Second, at least at the presidential level, once someone has been declared the president and is inaugurated, they automatically assume enormous symbolic power that is almost impossible to reverse. They also have access to enormous resources that they can deploy to influence the course of justice.

Whatever we do, we must curb the excesses of our out-of-control judiciary before it finally murders what remains of our democracy.

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Opinion

Badaru Abubakar: A towering figure with unwavering influence in Jigawa’s politics

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3 days ago

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January 7, 2025

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By Jameel Ahmed, PhD

It is both laughable and annoying how some few individuals think that His Excellency Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, former Jigawa State Governor and current minister of Defence, is losing relevance in the politics of the state or that his influence and grip on the All Progressives Congress (APC) is waning. Having this insinuation is akin to thinking that a mountain can crumble by a mere hit of a worn-out hammer.

How would you, as a sane person, surmise that a figure as influential and powerful as Badaru can lose relevance in the politics of Jigawa State! As a two-term Jigawa Governor, Badaru not only redefined the politics of the state but also gave essence to governance, transforming it from a mundane routine to a purpose-driven and promising endeavour that truly served the people. Astute and empathetic that he was (and still is), he enlivened the spirit of the poor by taking social amenities to them, thereby placing the state on a promising trajectory of sustainable development.

In what appeared to be a digression from what most politicians considered as norm, Badaru, on assumption of office, vowed to complete the projects initiated by his predecessor. And in a manner that symbolised “walking the talk”, he completed all the projects and initiated others and saw them to the finishing line before the expiration of his tenure. When many would luxuriate on the laps of power and get intoxicated by its grandeur, my Boss remained focus, determined and committed to the welfare of the good people of Jigawa State.

As his loyalist and staunch supporter, one of the numerous lessons I have learnt from him is that of speaking less but doing much. When he promises, rest assured that he has it all planned and that he will fulfill the promise. But here, one wouldn’t deny the fallibility of humans, after all it is an inherent ‘trait’ created in man. But comparatively speaking, Badaru has, as a Governor, proven his worth, and still doing ditto as Nigeria’s Minister of Defence. We are all living witnesses to how he is straining his nerves in securing the country and giving hopes to Nigerians.

His government, all-inclusive that it was, also carried the youths along. It was during his days as the number of citizen of Jigawa that the state witnessed a sharp shift from the approach of having the elderly people taking the centre stage and dominating key positions in government. One wouldn’t err to say that Badaru was the first governor in Nigeria to have given special recognition to the youths. From graciously approving key appointments to the youths, he unprecedentedly paved way for them to contest and win chairmanship election across the local government areas of the state.

He believed that by bringing fresh energy into the system of governance, more innovative solutions, creative ideas and effective policies could be harnessed to drive meaningful change and positive development to the good people of the state. And he was right! The youngsters he drew closer to him and availed opportunities to them didn’t disappoint him. For example, the council chairmen that served during his time had all done wonderfully well as they executed key projects that are critical to the development of their respective local government areas.

But alas, their tenures were cut short with the coming of the present Governor who, ironically, was also a protégé of Badaru. After making him a Commissioner and a member of the state executive council, Badaru later chose Umar Namadi to be his running mate during the time he sought reelection. Badaru, unlike many other governors who wouldn’t allow their deputies to do well lest they become strong and powerful, gave all he could to Namadi, extending every favour to him.

Badaru didn’t stop at that, he went further to clear the grounds for Namadi to succeed him, a rare privilege only few can extend to their deputies. He anointed him, stood by his side and gave his all to ensure his (Namadi’s) success at the poll. Every observer and keen follower of political happenings in Jigawa, if they’re sincere, would tell you that the contest, even at the primaries, was a heated one as there were many aspirants eyeing the exalted governorship seat. But with Badaru’s help, Namadi was able to scale through, even when a section of the state’s population was having misgivings about his competence and capacity to deliver.

And that was how the current governor came to be in the position he occupies now. But in a bizarre turn of events, those close to him began to disparage his predecessor, falsely accusing him of not providing adequate support for the current governor. But this is a baseless accusation and a wanton lie; a delusional statement only an ingrate person with myopic mind could make. As a political gladiator and leader of the APC in the state, Badaru could have anointed another person if he had wished, but he chose to repose his trust on Namadi.

Therefore, to think that Baba Badaru’s influence is waning in the politics of Jigawa state is both absurd and naive. He has built a lasting legacy and a strong network of supporters who are still committed to his ideals and steadfast in their allegiance to him. For the records, the three former council Chairmen (namely, Musa Shu’aibu Guri, Abdulkadir Bala Umar T.O., and Uzairu Nadabo) who served during Badaru and recently appointed by governor Namadi were never staunch loyalists of the Defence Minister, neither are they die-hard APC members. They are only political renegades who defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC for selfish reasons.

Badaru’s support-base, his relevance and influence in the political space of Jigawa State are still intact. The appointment of the three former council Chairmen as Special Advisers to the current governor did not and will not affect Badaru’s influence. These are people who severed ties with Badaru immediately after he left office and never visited him even after his ministerial appointment. How then can one with a clear mind suggest that their appointment as Special Advisers by the current governor would erode the relevance and wane the influence of His Excellency Muhammad Badaru Abubakar?

Baba Badaru is still Jigawa’s political father and the state’s APC leader whose influence is as formidable as it is far-reaching. He brought APC to the state, nursed and nurtured it to a promising height that shaped the political landscape of the state and sheltered the good people of Jigawa. We are with him. Our allegiance is still intact. So is that of the remaining 21 former council Chairmen whose tenures were cut short at a time when they were executing impactful projects to their people, following the footsteps of our hero, a beacon of hope and an astute leader whose political sagacity is the envy of many. More wisdom to you, His Excellency Muhammad Badaru Abubakar!

Jameel Ahmed, PhD
is a Member, Badaru-Support Organisation.

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Opinion

Garo’s Bitter Truth and Kano’s Development

Published

3 days ago

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January 7, 2025

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By Abba Anwar

For the first time, yes first time, in this republic, I mean since the restoration of our democracy from 1999 to date, I came across a prominent politician in Kano, blaming our leading politicians in the state, particularly past governors, over non-challant attitudes towards teaming up for the sake of state development.

Not only that, his worries could be spotted from his face while making the lamentation. To tell his audience, how disturbed he was. This is a straightforward politician WHOSE YES IS ALWAYS YES. And whose type of seriousness and commitment are rarely seen in many political actors.

It was at an Award Dinner organized by the former Speaker of Kano State House of Assembly, Right Hon Abdulaziz Gafasa, of the 8th, 9th and 10th Assembly for the APC members of the House, on Sunday, when Murtala Sule Garo, APC Deputy Governorship Candidate, 2023 election, spoke out in vivid terms, his concern for the inability of political leaders in the state, in putting heads together for the development of the state.

To display his political maturity going beyond internal ploy and deliberate setbacks, unnecessarily caused within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Garo’s foresight sees beyond that. His concern is the state at large. Not who are best fitted for elective political offices in the forthcoming 2027 election. That, to him is secondary. Patriotism at its best form.

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So his piece of advice is for all past governors in the state. You can think of Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, in chronological order. May Allah forgive those amongst them who passed away.

He made an important reference point with Zamfara state, when he said, “It is interesting to see that in Zamfara state… past governors come together during events under one platform, for the sake of the development of their state.”

“They put aside all political differences and affiliations, even those who differ within the same political party/parties, they put heads together and discuss issues that can bring development to their state,” he commended.

“But it is disheartening in the case of Kano…,” he lamented, that, “… our parents, our leaders and former governors cannot put heads together and bring to the table, for genuine discussion, what will bring development to the state.”

Garo urged them, with an open mind that,” They should please, if they truly love Kano, create a viable platform for discussing problems facing our dear state. They should keep aside all their personal interest and face reality.”

At the second segment of his remarks, as he described it, he commended the former Speaker, Gafasa, for organizing the Award Dinner, urging all stakeholders to rally round such effort for the strong survival of the party, APC.

“We should all encourage them for deciding to come together and face Kano’s growth and development. When their effort is strengthened and encouraged they will definitely make their initiative to be sustained. Eventually the state will immensely benefit from the process,” he observed.

My readers and I, including Garo himself, we all know that, close to those leaders there exist EVIL-MIND individuals pretending to be real, while they are FAKE by whatever standard. Whose end would not be met if those leaders live peacefully with others. So they strive hard to see that internal cohesion and external collaboration are unattainable.

Such fake individuals do not want to see peace reign even from within, the APC for example. So also there exist same or similar elements within the ranks of other political parties. Probably such situations need the application of reverse psychology.

Anwar, former Chief Press Secretary to the former Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje CON and can be reached at fatimanbaba1@gmail.com
January 7th, 2025

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Opinion

All hail the Substantive Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja

Published

5 days ago

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January 5, 2025

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By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo, anipr

On 31st December, 2024 Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi’s appointment was approved as the substantive Vice chancellor, University of Abuja by the university’s Governing board chaired by Air Vice Marshal Saddiq Ismaila Kaita (Rtd) .It was approved during the 77th Extraordinary Meeting of the Council.I congratulate the brand new Vice Chancellor of university of Abuja, because she has indeed overcome the campaign of calumny in the media against her. God is great.

It would be recalled that she was appointed as the Acting Vice Chancellor of the university when Professor Abdulrasheed Na’Allah completed his five -year tenure .Since then she has been working hard to sustain the standard of the university. Despite that the adversaries had been condemning her that she had no experience. I laughed, because this is a woman who has been Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University, before her ascension to the position of the acting Vice Chancellor. Power belongs to God and He gives it to whoever He wants. To those who felt cold about her appointment, they should accept the verdict of the Almighty and work with her to succeed. If their concern is to make the university of Abuja better and stronger, then the only option is to support her with all sincerity. In togetherness the university will do well in the community of universities and educational services.

To the brand new Vice Chancellor , here is my advice:run an inclusive administrative system. Nobody is your foe, you only have some members of staff with different interests; the interests may not be permanent most especially if you are doing the right thing. Pay attention to the antics of sycophants. Show love to everyone, but never compromise the standard of the university. You are lucky, because you are loved by many as it is evidence in the jubilation that culminated the announcement of your appointment on the University campus.

Essentially, building on the legacies of your predecessor, Professor Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, which centered on transformation, innovation and prudence would help you a great deal.May Allah guide you

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Profile of the Substantive VC

Prior to her appointment as the substantive Vice-Chancellor, Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi served in an acting capacity from 5th July 2024. During this period, she worked closely with the Governing Council to stabilise the University through a challenging crisis, demonstrating exceptional leadership and commitment.

Born on 31st January 1983 in Katsin in
Finally, UniAbuja Appoints Law Professor, Aisha Maikudi the Substantive Vice Chancellor
Maikudi’s academic excellence took her to the University of Reading, where she earned an LLB in 2004. She further specialised in Public International Law, obtaining an LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2005. After completing her legal education at the Nigerian Law School (2006–2007), she pursued and had a PhD in International Law from the University of Abuja in 2015.

She joined the University of Abuja as a Lecturer II on 4th September 2008, and rose through the ranks to become a professor in 2021.

Prof Maikudi broke barriers as the first female Head of Department in 2013, the first female Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law in 2018, and the pioneer Director of the University of Abuja International Centre in 2019. She also served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), where she was instrumental in enhancing academic standards and promoting a culture of excellence at the University.

An innovator in her field, she introduced the ‘United Nations Law’ course at the University of Abuja in 2019, backed by extensive research and numerous publications in academic journals and book chapters. She is also highly experienced in supervising theses and dissertations, contributing to the growth of legal scholarship.

Maikudi has represented her university and country at numerous national and international conferences, workshops, and training sessions across the UK, US, South Africa, Germany, Italy, China, Ghana, and Egypt. She has presented papers at many of these events, further solidifying her global reputation as an academic leader.

The new Vice-Chancellor is an active member of several professional organisations, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nigerian Law Teachers Association (NLTA), International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), and Nigerian Society of International Law.

According to the Director, Information and University Relations,Dr Habib Yakoob “her tenure promises a new era of progress and transformation for the University of Abuja”

Congratulations!

 

abdurraheemsaaddembo@gmail.comc

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