Opinion

How to Stop Judicial Coups Against Democracy in Nigeria

Published

1 year ago

December 2, 2023

“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.

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.

Opinion

Encomia As Hajara Ali Exits NECO

Published

9 hours ago

April 9, 2025

Nigerian Tracker

By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo, anipr

Let me begin this piece with the words of the Famous American Obie Award Winning Actor and Writer, Patrick Foley, “…Retirement is a chance to redesign your life into Something new and different”.It is never the end of the road but an opportunity to start a new life.

On 25th March, 2025 Hajiya Hajara Ali retired from the service of National Examinations Council (NECO) meritoriously as a Director.

She was a mother to all within the Council. A very pragmatic, hardworking, and thorough civil servant.

But I can’t say it all, so I had to reach out to those who have worked closely with her and others within the Council.

Mrs Mary Esezobor opines “Hajiya is a mother, she is free with everybody and has a listening ear.She is friendly, one can enter her office anytime.Many people believe that once a woman is in position of authority, power intoxicates them but that was not the case of Hajiya”.

Similarly,Mr Msughter Igbalaga is a member of staff, who worked with her, explained that “she is naturally simple because she is not the material type. Anything flamboyant Hajiya dislikes it even as a Director. She would come and sit down in the midst of some members of staff to discuss official issues. She values ideas from her staff and abhors laziness.”

Mrs Ebele A. Egbosimba also described Hajara Ali as a friendly and accommodating personality. She asserts ” If you work with her,she would guide you appropriately. She doesn’t engage in discrimination. Her yes is yes, while her No is No.She fights for justice and loves doing the right thing”.

Her Secretary, Mrs Hafsat Shehu Yusuf said, “She is simple and nice. She’s friendly and hardworking.She is a good mother”.

Furthermore, Mrs Sunday A. Nike, who also worked with her captures her personality thus:” She is a mother to me. She is straightforward and generous.There is no challenge you take to her that she would not help you to address it. she is very accommodating and does not discriminate against religion or tribe”.

Husseini Amodu has worked with Hajiya for years, here is his submission about her: “To every objective assessor, Hajiya Hajara epitomizes diligence, discipline, foresight and empathy. She is an advocate of peace, industrial harmony, dedication to duty and servant leadership. Her humility is rare and she is distinctively accommodating. She carries out her tasks with absolute passion and precision, upholding the tenets of exemplary leadership. There is no doubt that her sterling qualities will propel her for higher responsibilities in our beloved country in no distant time, God willing”.

Essentially, Lukman Ahmed is a member of staff and the former Special Assistant On Poverty Alleviation to Kwara state Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has this to say about her:

“Hajia Hajara Ali (Our Mother) is a paragon of hard work, selfless service and dedication.

“We celebrate a Mother who has set a high standard of leadership, demonstrating that with vision, courage and determination, even the most daunting challenges are being surmounted.”

“We celebrate an exceptional Woman, Mother, Teacher, Mentor, a beacon of hope, whose impressive achievement in office has left an indelible mark in the history of the Registration Department.”

“Her versatility will be missed “.

Most importantly, Hajiya Hajara Ali is not only religious but pious. Her attitude to work is superb. On the day she retired I went to her office and I met a lot of staff members who came to congratulate her.She made a statement on that day while advising them and it kept knocking on my mind. She said she took her job diligently because she knew she would account before the Almighty about her approach to work and the people around her. She admonished staff members to always do the right thing for the sake of the Council and accountability.

*Her Educational background*

She hailed from Dala Local Government Area of Kano State

Hajara Ali completed her primary school at the Cathedral Girls Primary School, Freetown, Sierra leone in 1977.She attended Government Girls College, Dala,Kano and had a GCE O’ Level WAEC in 1982.

She later proceeded to Bayero University, Kano and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSC) Chemistry in 1989.She had a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the same institution in 1996.

In 2005 she obtained Diploma in Computer Science Education at Cornerstone Computer Institute, Ilorin

In her quest to acquire more knowledge and qualification she went to Bayero University, Kano (BUK) again to study Education at Post graduate level, and she obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Education in 2009.

In 2012 she bagged Msc Analytical Chemistry in Bayero University, Kano

Hajiya Hajara Ali worked with the Kano State Ministry of Water Resources and served as Senior Research Officer between 1990 and 1999.She later joined the service of the National Examinations Council in 2000 when NECO was established.

Until her retirement,she was the Director of Registration at the NECO Headquarters in Minna, where she made appreciable impact through innovation of ideas and commitment to work .

On 7th April, 2025 during the send forth ceremony organized for her by the staff of the Council at the NECO Conference hall,she received a lot of gifts and accolades from members of staff,and that was a testament to her dignity,hardwork, simplicity and integrity.

Hajiya Hajara Ali is retired but not tired, a woman of such impeccable character should be engaged in higher responsibility.

Against all odds she will navigate the earth and the sky will be her limit just as the former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has said “Where there are no ceilings, the sky is the limit”.

I pray that Allah guides and protects her as she approaches the new phase of life

Opinion

The King Who Was—A Legacy Etched in Eternity” Tribute To Galadiman Kano

Published

15 hours ago

April 9, 2025

Nigerian Tracker

”

By Sadiq Abbas Sanusi

A tribute to Galadiman Kano, Abbas Sanusi, a man who embodied royalty beyond title, whose grace and wisdom left an indelible mark on tradition and leadership. His reign in our hearts will never fade.

With tears that shall never be forgotten, I write of a man who embodied royalty in every fiber of his being. Galadiman Kano, Abbas Sanusi, was not just a royal by blood—he lived, breathed, and walked the essence of royalty. In a time when Kano saw many princes, none could compare to the dignity, grace, and leadership of this extraordinary man.

Born into a prestigious lineage, Abbas Sanusi was the grandson of the late Emir of Kano Abdullahi Bayero and the son of the revered Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi (the first). He was a nephew to both the late Emir Muhammad Inuwa and the late Emir Ado Bayero.

He was the uncle of Emir Muhammad Sanusi (the second) and a cousin to the Emir, Aminu Ado Bayero. He bore the prestigious title of Galadiman Kano—the highest-ranking traditional title, second only to the Emir himself.

Galadima served under multiple emirs with unmatched loyalty and wisdom, not merely as a traditional leader but as a true artist, designer, choreographer, and coordinator of the monarchy. His influence extended far beyond Kano, earning him reverence and respect throughout the northern emirates. His name was synonymous with royalty itself.

A living legend of royalty, Galadima Abbas Sanusi was more than a man—he was a symbol of tradition, honor, and nobility. He was a king in every sense but title. And though he has passed, he will forever remain our king in spirit.

He was not only the Galadiman Kano; he was our father. And the end of this era marks the beginning of his eternal reign in our hearts. Forever, he will be the king who was.

Opinion

Letter To Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf On The Plight Of Sani DZ’s Family

Published

20 hours ago

April 9, 2025

Nigerian Tracker

Aminu Abba Kwaru

I hope this letter finds you in good health and high spirits. As one of the media fraternity and someone who had the privilege of working closely with the late Sani Muhammad DZ (Your Image Maker when you are a Commissioner of works) I feel compelled to reach out to you through this medium regarding the legacy and significant contributions of a dedicated Public Relations Officer, who served both you and the people of Kano State with unwavering commitment.

Late Sani Muhammad formally known as DZ was not just a professional, he was a guider, a father, a friend and a steadfast ally to all journalists during your tenure as the Commissioner of Works, Housing and transport.

Sir, late D.Z’s kindness, simplicity, and dedication to work left an indelible mark on all who had the opportunity to work alongside him in your office.

During the administration of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Late DZ played a pivotal role in ensuring that your accomplishments were communicated effectively and widely, helping to shape the perception of your capabilities as a commissioner.

Sir, It was through late D.Z’s efforts that many, including the then-Executive Governor, recognized your potential to succeed in the highest office of the state.

Regrettably, since Sani D.Z’s passing, it has become apparent that many of those currently surrounding you now may not know the extent of his contributions towards your success in political journey.

Shehu Bala Kabara, Muhammad Auwalu Tudun Murtala, Rabi’u Aboki Ana’s da wasu da dama shaidu ne Atambaye su Aji amsar SU Kan wannan batu. Kokuma Ahmad (your Personal Photographer now your S.A Videography) shima shaidane. Kai a tambayi Kwamishinan ayyuka ma na yanzu Malam Marwan Aji idan gaskiya na fada. Commissioner Ibrahim Wayya da Sanusi Bature ba maganar SU Tunda su haduwar shekaranjiya ne.

It is paramount that the legacy of individuals like late Sani Muhammad DZ is preserved and honored more especially by you Sir, as he have played an essential role in your political history and your progress personally and politically of Kano State.

I urge you, as a matter of urgency, to extend your hand to the family of Sani Muhammad DZ. In times of sorrow, it is our duty to support those who have been left behind, especially during this difficult period. Your acknowledgment of his contributions and your support towards his family, would not only honor Sani’s memory but also reinforce your commitment to the values of dedication and service that he embodied.

Your excellency Sir,Yadda kake ruwan rabon kudade, ababen hawa, filaye da kujerun aikin Hajji Dan Allah Ka tuna da iyalan Marigayi Sani Muhammad D.Z Ka san shi kuma kasan gudunmowar SA a wajenka kawai dai tuna maka nayi.

Please Ahmad P.A convey my heartfelt condolences to Sani’s family, his students, and all his colleagues who are mourning his loss. The impact he had on so many lives was profound, and his absence will surely be felt for years to come.

Thank you Sir for your time and consideration. I trust that you will see the merit in recognizing the legacy of a truly dedicated servant of the people.

With respect and sincerity,

Aminu.Abba Kwaru

Immediate Past Chairman of

Nigeria Union of Journalist

Radio Nigeria Pyramid FM.Kano

8,April,2025