Former President Goodluck Jonathan has criticized the judiciary over judgements, saying they were capable of derailing the nation’s democracy.
The former president while reacting to judgements emanating from various courts in recent times, on Thursday at the 67th birthday celebration of a legal luminary, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, in Abuja.
He noted that judgements, especially on political cases, were worrisome, particular judgement that Supreme Court’s decision that a ward chairman of a political party could suspend its national chairman.
“The way things are going in this country, especially listening to the judgments being given regarding political cases, we are beginning to see that democracy in Nigeria is like a cone that is being turned upside down.
“And if a cone is turned upside down it cannot be stable and at the slightest perturbation, it will fall. When I listened to some senior lawyers like Olisa Agbakoba making comments on some Supreme Court’s judgments, I felt very sad that the country has got to that level.
“If our democracy will endure, people, both at the Bar and the Bench, should not be carried away by political influence. That is the only way we can stabilise the political process.
“I know the lawyers enjoy it because after elections there is always an avalanche of litigation, because it is like Christmas for lawyers.
“But in most other countries, people don’t go to court, but in Nigeria, pre-election matters and post-election matters fill all the courts and it does not give a good sign for democracy.
“Comparing Nigeria to other African countries and those outside Africa, because I have been able to get involved in their electoral processes, it worries me.
“There is a particular judgment that has been haunting me and I need to mention that, luckily, I am not a lawyer, I am saying that from a layman view, it (the judgment) simply turned the cone upside down and if the courts don’t look back into this case, it will create so much instability in the political system that it would affect all of us.
“Those who would have succeeded, their victory song will not last long, because we will all be victims. Where the court says a Ward Chairman can expel a National Chairman of a political party. This is not in line with natural justice. The law is to control human behaviour and human behaviour must follow how God created systems.
“And, you cannot tell me that the Head of Department in a university, for example, can expel the Vice Chancellor. So, how can the Nigerian law tell me that a Ward Chairman can expel a national officer of a political party?
“And, since that judgment has been given, as at today, it has created all kinds of instability in the party. PDP is in crisis because of that judgment. APC, at a time, was also into crisis because of that judgment.
“I am not looking at it from a legal perspective, because I don’t know anything about the law. But when I look at how nature works, I have never seen a system where its sub-unit can discipline the top.”
“For the PDP exactly, in the constitution of the PDP, if you are a national officer, even your state cannot discipline you, not to talk about a Ward officer, who is not a member of the NEC, the National Executive Council.
“And we are saying that a Ward Chairman of a party can suspend and expel the National Chairman of a political party. I am appealing with the Supreme Court to revisit their judgment, because that judgment has turned the cone upside down and the political process, the democracy, is wobbling,” ,” Jonathan said.
On the celebrator, Jonathan said he wrote the foreword of one of the 50 books written and presented at the event by Ozekhome.
On his part, chairman occasion and former President Olusegun Obasanjo praised Ozekhome, describing him as “an extraordinary man” and “a radical.”
“Mike is a person who advocates for thorough or complete positive change with conviction, courage, and integrity. “That is the man that we have come to honour,” he said.
Also speaking, the Labour Party (LP)’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, praised Ozekhome on his fight for a just and egalitarian society, urging him not to relent.
Reviewing the 50 books, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), commended Ozekhome’s intellectual brilliance and patriotic zeal.
The collection covers a wide range of disciplines such as law, politics, and philosophy.
The event had in attendance legal giant, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), a host of other top-placed Nigerians, especially from the Bar, friends and relations.
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