“This decision of the Supreme Court will continue to haunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come.” – Justice Chima C. Nweze
The sudden dissolution of the Advertising Board of Nigeria, a statutory body of the federal authorities, stinks to the high heavens. The action is highly repressive and high-handed, not only for its arbitrariness but also for seeming to kill a fly with the sledgehammer.
Though the circumstances leading to this thoughtless action have not been clarified yet, suffice it to say right away that the punishment reminds us of the cruel days of military rule and decrees.
One account holds that the Board was sacked for not suppressing a trending billboard message, “All eyes on the judiciary.” This message, presumably cleared by the Board, another account says, sparked a widespread campaign on and offline, reflecting the genuine anxiety of teeming millions who voted Peter Obi for president on February 25.
We daresay that the anxiety arises from the indefinite delay of the PEPT of its verdict on the Labour Party and Obi’s petition against INEC and the APC candidate whom the Commission had declared victorious, contrary to expectations. How does the billboard flout the rule of sub judice in Nigeria? How does the message obstruct or influence justice delivery at the Tribunal which had concluded open hearings and now sits in camera? If indeed the billboard does offend, is it in the place of the executive arm to punish the Board for offending(?) the judiciary which can fend for itself?
Other pertinent questions cross our minds at this juncture: Did the Board act ultra vires in allowing the message to air? Has the message infringed on the democratic rights of anyone in this polity? Who is aggrieved by that innocuous message that ventilates the inalienable rights of people to express themselves without let or hindrance?
In a saner society than ours, should not the response be “Yes, we are aware and are working and justice will not only be served but seen to be served”?
By that ruthless sacking of the Board, the Tinubu presidency just confirmed the people have every reason to be apprehensive. It proves the billboard right. Anyone in the shoes of the judiciary will earnestly desire that all eyes remain focused on them to scare away hawks who would want to derail justice.
Why is the tribunal ruling taking forever to rule on the various issues raised? After all, the issues are straightforward. Why look for twists and turns? In the course of this rigmarole, a harmless song of a co-wife is interpreted to mean an infringement.
Why should the billboard tug at anyone’s conscience?
If all eyes are on you, awaiting a decision from you, it’s to underscore the importance of what you want to do. It’s like a child glued to the adult holding his biscuit or toy. Nothing will distract that child from removing his glare on that toy. If you fail to do it well their hearts, not eyes will be on you. In the spirit world, all eyes not all hearts should be on you. So, all eyes on the judiciary are a kind of forewarning alerting the judiciary to do the right thing and to prevent the people’s hearts from being on them.
Before the February 25, Presidential election, all eyes were on Prof Mahmoud Yakubu and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to get it right and deliver the will of the people, but when he failed himself and the people, their hearts turned to them. Since then he has been receiving all kinds of curses that will require a lot of spiritual exorcism or catharsis to extricate him and his household from the malediction.
Therefore if you are holding something in trust for the people and they are expecting you to deliver, you should wish that all eyes be on you to keep you permanently on alert and undistracted because to lose trend and derail can be catastrophic. If Nigeria’s judiciary gets it wrong it would be a death knell for democracy in this land. It would mark the final subjugation of the people. But what is assuring is that there is a very weighty repercussion for this even though the perpetrators are trying to play it down.
Forget the “I don’t care” attitude of political criminals who undermine the People’s will, try tracing their end and you will see people in regret.
Even though some of these repercussions are apparent, the evildoers are most often deaf and blind to history. Even the Holy Book used the story of Lazarus and the rich man to forewarn the consequences of evil, but most rich people on earth read that chapter and flip it.
If Prof Yakubu tells you he has been sleeping well since his March 1st, 2023 4 a.m. fraudulent election result announcement, he is a liar. You cannot trample on the will of the people blatantly and get away with it even if you don’t believe in vox populi, vox Dei.
Why on earth should anybody who means well and has a clear conscience be afraid or worried that all eyes are on him? A football referee who is afraid of the fans must have issues with impartial officiating.
Unknown to those who set out to commit a crime thinking that the victim would not be able to do anything, the most delicate person to offend is the one who would not react violently.
When you choose to take away the mandate of a marathoner and student of the nonviolent hero, India’s Gandhi like Peter Obi, and you think all is over, you might just be in self-deceit.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his strategists must have assured themselves that once sworn in and the government rolls on, ministers appointed, tell all governors to nominate people for board positions, get the ECOWAS chair, and threaten a neighbour with the war in the thinking that nations unite around their leaders during wars. That’s true but not in the case of contrived wars and certainly not with a leader who is legitimacy-challenged, who undermined the people on his way up, not one who grabs power at the expense of the people.
If it was that simple, a harmless billboard emblazoned with “All eyes on the judiciary” should not have raised their adrenaline to warrant pulling it down and sacking the Advertising Board governors.
As a critical arm of the democratic government, the judiciary does not need protection from the executive if it’s threatened. It has all the powers to protect itself. Even if the billboard message is offensive and breaches the law, it’s not for an executive who is a party to the case at the tribunal to play the protector. In fact, in this instance, the action of the executive is what is sub judice because it interpreted the message dubiously and hyped to play the helper to the judiciary.
The public knowledge of the ad multiplied after the thoughtless action of the jittery executive. In real terms, the Tinubu government, hurt and impaired by the billboard, heralded it where they ostensibly wanted the judiciary to see them as protective.
I know some people might fear the truth, but it should always be anyone’s first choice. It is important to hear the truth. Although it can be hard to handle sometimes, lies will make things worse over time. I would rather face the truth to avoid being hurt by things that aren’t true.
The question to ask at this point is, why should all eyes be on the Judiciary? Does the judiciary need all eyes to do what is right? Are they not Nigerian enough to appreciate the importance of serving justice to the people at this time and all the times?
There would not have been any need really to put extra gaze on our expectations but going by the rulings coming out of Nigerian courts on political matters, there are some huge reasons to increase our anxiety.
The 2020 case of the Imo State gubernatorial wonder judgment and the 2023 bizarre ruling on the Yobe State senatorial case involving the former Senate President are two judicial somersaults that helped to stimulate everybody’s longing.
The motive of the promoters of all eyes on the judiciary is not necessarily to influence the justices, but more to protect them from untoward influences. The government and the agency fighting against it know full well their reason for trying to push such messages away from the public glare. It makes them uncomfortable for the same reason that makes it necessary for those who think otherwise.
It’s all eyes being on the judiciary that led to the outcry from Justice Azinge of the Kano State election petition tribunal that some senior lawyers were trying to bribe her and her panel. The intention of those trying to sway the judiciary is obvious, to pervert justice.
Ordinarily, given the discrete quantity and weight of evidence put forward in the Presidential election case, there should be no cause for concern but with the “grab power at all costs” attitude of the ruling APC, nothing should be left to chance.
For instance, the issue of the 25%-poll tally in the FCT with all existing judicial positions in the past by the Supreme Court of the land is keeping the judiciary in total check with little or no way to meander.
Also hanging like a clog on the judiciary and making it difficult to maneuver without ridiculing themselves are the seven critical points of law raised by petitioners.
The reasons all eyes and hearts are on the judiciary to dispense justice include but are not limited to the fact that Nigeria’s 2023 electoral process is like no other as it generated unprecedented political awareness in the populace, with a massive number of first-time voters, mostly youths.
It establishes voter confidence in the electoral process as it radically plugs most of the legal and procedural loopholes for rigging and manipulation of election results, hence the citizens were upbeat about the polls.
INEC’s own rules and guidelines for the elections as well as extant laws in the constitution and the Electoral Act 2022 were openly and deliberately subverted by the electoral body itself in the conduct of the February 25, 2023, presidential poll.
Both local and international observers of the said election have testified in their separate reports that the integrity of the exercise was severely compromised, while substantial non-compliance with extant rules was flagrantly demonstrated.
All genuine proponents of democracy the world over have described the February 25 presidential poll as the worst election in contemporary political history, reeking of a civilian coup d’état.
What is on trial is the nation’s judiciary, as all the parties to this electoral dispute know the truth. It would amount to stating the obvious to say That the nation’s democracy is today standing on the edge of the cliff, waiting to be saved or sunk by the judiciary.
The country itself has been facing existential challenges, which can only be should the judiciary succumb to arm twisting and intimidation in this matter. And that the peace we enjoy today is that of the graveyard because the dying multidimensionally poor are still hanging on the hope for an imminent BETTER NIGERIA, which they feel is possible.
The judiciary is, therefore, today in a privileged position to save these people, the country’s democracy, and the nation itself.
Should the judiciary squander these privileges and age-long trust in the sanctity of the institution as the last hope for the underprivileged, on the altar of greed or fear, the concerned justices would not only have brought their noble profession and sacred institution into disrepute, but history will violently rise in their condemnation on the day of judgment.
We wish to agree with late Justice C.C. Nweze of the Supreme Court of Nigeria until July 30, 2023, who is yet to even be committed to Mother Earth that “Nigerian courts have inherent jurisdiction of redeeming its image.”
