No country on earth can develop economically and technologically without having a responsive, visionary, and competent government at the centre. Nobody is unaware that there is a nexus between national development and good political leadership. And only good political leaders can drive developmental initiatives in their countries.
Again, in developed countries that belong to the first world, their political leaders are the choices of the people or voters. So, if a political leader in a developed country has performed abysmally in many areas of political leadership, he or she will, certainly, suffer electoral misfortune during another cycle of election in that country. In most developed countries of the world, the votes of the people count.
However, in Africa where democracy, the most acceptable type of government, is taking roots, election rigging has been incorporated into the democratic cultures and electoral processes of many African countries. Most African political leaders, who perceive their possession of political power as their eternal possessions, will do everything within their powers to perpetuate themselves in office.
In Nigeria, the story is not different. Since our country’s attainment of political sovereignty in 1960, the political will and choices of the people have always been subverted. Also, since the dawn of the fourth republic in 1999, almost every presidential election conducted in Nigeria was a subject of litigation in the court. And it was the Supreme Court that determined the winners of those disputed presidential election results. That Our politicians resort to the judiciary for the determination of the authentic winner of every presidential election contest in Nigeria shows their lack of trust and faith in our electoral processes and democratic culture.
Now, the February 25, 2023 presidential election result is being challenged in the court by some presidential candidates in that election. Two front runners in that presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi have filed their petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Abuja, challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
The onus is on the members of the presidential election tribunal to live up to the expectations of the populace. It behooves on them to maintain impartiality, abide by the tenets of the judiciary, and resist the allurement of money as they adjudicate on the case. They should ensure that their judicial acts are shorn off ethnic bias and religious sentiments in order that the cause of justice is served. When justice has prevailed in the case, our democracy will be strengthened.
So, it is expected that the judges look at the cases dispassionately and give their rulings in good conscience. And they should not allow themselves to be brow-beaten into acting against the dictates of the law by the political desperadoes.
An independent and unbiased judiciary is a force for the deepening of our democracy. For example, when politicians know that their ill-gotten electoral victories can be upturned by the election tribunals and courts, they will not spend huge sums of money to manipulate the electoral processes to achieve their political ends. Instead, they will campaign for votes based on the leadership qualities they possess and the achievement they have recorded as leaders.
Nigeria is at the cross-roads of political uncertainties, and tension is rising in the country. It will be insensitive and imprudent for members of the presidential election tribunal to decide the case based on political convenience and expedience under the guise of not throwing Nigeria into the cauldron of political violence. They should take this saying to heart: you cannot make omelettes without breaking eggs.
The political listing of the ship of state can be steadied by the upright, unbiased, and fair rulings of the presidential election tribunal and the Supreme Court. Denying justice to the Presidential election petitioners in the name of safeguarding our democracy will be a bad political precedent that has the potentiality of halting the growth of our democracy.
The ball is in your courts, members of the Judiciary.
Written by CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE
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