Agboola Sanni
Whenever I hear about President Goodluck Jonathan’s vow to keep the country together through his adherence to the rule of law, one thing always comes to my mind: It is the common philosophical saying that the enemies of democracy are ostensibly the most vociferous in its defence.
One thing stands President Jonathan far above and taller than any of his predecessors whether civil or military. This is his ability to renege from those promises he made at campaign period and concentrate on those he did not promise and yet perform excellently in their discharge.
If there is one area where our affable Pesident performs well and excellently, it is in total disregard to the Rule of Law crystalisd by total desecration of the judiciary. I have said it in so many fora,both formal and informal,that the so called charter of African Union in respect of electoral process as the only agency for the legitimacy in Africa is capable of restoring despotism in many countries of the continent. That declaration had built a kind of false confidence in some small minded rulers that they see themselves above their people and even the laws of the land.
In the case of Nigeria, however, it is an unfortunate paradox of politics that the ruling party in the country had constituted itself as an organ of state whose position on any national issue should take precedence over even that of the constitutionally assigned agency on such matters.
That takes us to the current issue of the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami. It is very clear right from the beginning, that is from the time of the suspension of Justice Salami, that the overriding interest at the official level was not what the law says or any kind of rule of law but what is in the best interest of the Peoples Democratic Party. Unfortunately, however, the PDP at that time found a ready ally and partner in the then Chief Justice of Nigeria.
What was not known to some at that time was that it was not the rabble rousing outbursts and street cries of former Ekiti State Governor, Chief Segun Oni, that led to the suspension of Salami in the first instance. Rather, it was a preemptive measure, which was the product of the circumspective unease of some friends of President Jonathan in respect of the then ongoing presidential election tribunal, presided over by Salami as the President of the Court of Appeal. Going by the tall and thicker fence, which Justice Salami built around himself against any form of political and extraneous interference during the various gubernatorial cases he handled, it was clear to them that he was a no nonsense jurist who could not be cowed by any political sword of intimidation. It then dawned on them that something must be done quickly. The effect of something to be done is what we are witnessing today. Suffice to say however that the syndrome had bought the judiciary of this country to its lowest ebb.
It is a myth of history that the President and his Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, now see themselves wiser than the National Judicial Council, the Nigerian Bar Association and other relevant bodies across the country. As part of the mockery game on the judiciary, the Attorney General in his attempt to hide behind a finger claimed that some cases were pending in court against the reinstatement of Salami as the PCA. Unfortunately, he did not care about the locus of those so-called ghost litigants or what they stand to suffer as individuals or groups in the event of the reinstatement of Justice Salami.
If even they have locus, can theirs be compared with that of Justice Salami who at the time of his suspension was having a case in court against the NJC? Yet at that time, the AGF could not read any subjudice against accepting the advice of the NJC over a case that was crucially in court. But when it came to a ‘working to the answer’ cases, subjudice became manifest in the eyes of the AGF.
In any case, leaders of the PDP, especially in the South West, led by Segun Oni, had been singing the rhythm of ‘no way’ for Salami ever before and after the pronouncement of the NJC. For those who could read the political thermometer of the Presidency, it was clear that those rabble rousers were only thinking aloud on the mood of the President.
That is by the way. however. Another reason why the PDP may not be in a hurry for Justice Salami’s recall is the fact of the two crucial elections coming up later this year, i.e. Edo and Ondo States. The ruling party, conscious of the state of its unpopularity in the two states, may want to lay political judicial ambush against the eventual winners of the two states. Who else can they rely upon for that dirty job than the man who defied the order of his employer, technically advising him to vacate the seat for the substantive holder.
The point being canvassed is that no democracy can thrive under a feeble judiciary. It is therefore a truism against the backdrop of the current happenings in the electoral culture of Africa that Nigeria at the moment practices about the worst democracy in Africa. I do not know anywhere else in Africa where the leaders of the ruling party would be boasting that they would rule for 50 years while in another breath another group within the ruling elite see the boast as an understatement. To them they will rule for ever.
Against the backdrop of the impunity with which the PDP in connivance with successive Independent National electoral Commission team has been rigging elections since 2003, anybody who takes the boast of the PDP with levity does so at his own peril. The difference between Professor Maurice Iwu’s and Professor Attahiru Jega’s INEC is only in degrees.
Sanni writes from Ibadan, Oyo State.