November 23, (THEWILL) – A Youth Group, All Youth Re-Oriented Initiative (AYRIN), has chided President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his silence over what it termed “confusion and miscarriage of justice by the Nigeria judiciary”, warning that his silence may be an invitation to anarchy, which may possibly lead to military intervention in the political space.
The group warned President Tinubu, to as a matter of urgency, call the judiciary to order through the Chief Justice of Nigeria, saying annihilation of the opposition parties’ victory through bias and provocative judgements may ruin the nascent democracy being enjoyed in the country.
It warned that the president should pay attention to the judicial miscarriage going on in the country, saying “This may lead to anarchy, which God forbid may lead to military take over of affairs in the country.”
The Group, in a statement issued on Thursday, and signed by its spokesperson, Kilamuwaye Badmus, said the Court of Appeal in its three judgements in the last couple of days concerning Zamfara, Plateau and Kano state governorship elections have shown that it is desperate to destroy democracy.
“The manner of upturning the decisions of the people of Zamfara, Plateau and Kano in the last elections by using technicalities is unacceptable.
“Three judges of the Court of Appeal cannot overturn the decisions of millions of residents of those states, who came out in sunshine and rainfall to carry out their civic duties.
“The confusion in the judgement of the Kano State is most alarming. The confusion the Court of Appeal has caused by reading a different judgement and putting another judgement in True Certified Copy of the judgement is an unpardonable miscarriage of justice. How can a court give two judgements in the same case and victory to the two parties in a case?
“The only conclusion that can be drawn from the judicial debacle in Kano state is that the average reasonable person can only conclude that the Court of Appeal changed the judgment after it had concluded deliberations on the matter, and then mistakenly left the original conclusion during the cutting and pasting process.
“President Tinubu will be shirking his responsibility if he decides to be silent in this kind of precarious situation. Many great Nigerians dead and alive fought for this democracy and we should not allow the judiciary to truncate our hard-earned democracy.
“We are calling on the President, eminent members of the bench (both retired and serving) and the bar, to be interested in what happened, that we have the kind of scenario presented in the CTC of the judgement of the Appeal Court.
“This is not just a mistake that can be merely “corrected” by the Court of Appeal as it does not fall within the ambit of the ‘ ‘slip rule’, where a court can recall the document and correct an error. Such errors that can be corrected must be so obvious that their correction cannot generate any controversy, regarding the judgement or decision of the court. Such errors must be of such nature that their correction would not change the substance of the judgment or alter the clear intention of the Court.
“What we have in the case of Kano judgement cannot be a typographical error as claimed by the Court Registrar. A situation where a cost was awarded can’t be a typographical error. Something must be done to reform our judiciary”, the group said in the statement.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
