Coalition Calls On National Judicial Council To Commence Investigation On Justice Nwosu-Iheme

 

......Says Corruption has become Pervasive in the Judiciary

The Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption said that Nigerian courts have increasingly been acquiring the reputation of temples of judgement, and not of justice.

This was disclosed on Friday at a press briefing in Abuja by the Director General of the Coalition, Dr. Nwambu Gabriel.

“There is perhaps no greater point in our national history than now when public confidence in the judiciary is at an all-time low, Dr. Gabriel said.

He further said that as a coalition of non-partisan, non-governmental civil society organizations who have been observing elections across the country, the coalition have also followed the proceedings of court as it affects the Cross River North Senatorial District bye-election.

He said, “On the 30th of July, the Election Petition Appeal Tribunal headed by Justice Nwosu-Iheme ruled on the matter following an appeal filed by Joe Agi (SAN) consequent to the victory of Sen. Dr. Steven Adi Odey at the Election Petition Tribunal. The court declared Hon. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe as the winner of that election.

The Coalition, as observers to the Cross River North Senatorial District bye-election observed three main mind burgling issues about the said judgement:

“That pursuant to Section 285 (13) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). An Election Tribunal or Court shall not declare any person a winner at an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of the election thus rendering the order made on the 30th July, 2021 on INEC to issue certificate of return to Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe who admitted before the trial tribunal that he was not given INEC Nomination forms and that his name was not forwarded by PDP (his political party) to INEC as its candidate.

“That pursuant to Section 141 of the Electoral Act, 2015 (as amended), an election tribunal or Court shall not under any circumstance declare any person a winner at an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of the said election. Thus making the order of the Honourable court made on 30th July, 2021on INEC to issue certificate of return to Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe who admitted on oath not to have been nominated pursuant to section 32 (1) of the Electoral Act 2015 (as amended) for the bye-election of Cross River North Senatorial district held on the 5th December, 2020 and his name not forwarded by his political party to INEC as its candidate is without jurisdiction and illegal.

“That Jarigbe  Agom Jarigbe did not file a cross petition and so cannot be entitled to any relief of the court of Appeal warranting his being declared a winner of the election.

The coalition said that Justice Nwosu-Iheme who presided over the matter was very hostile in court on the 30th of July, 2021 as she shouted down on all the counsels in court and allowed only the counsel to Hon. Jarigbe to address the court. This raises a lot of curiosity.

The Coalition raises many questions such as “If not for corruption, how could a Justice of the court of Appeal Jettison Section 285 (13) of the 1999 constitution (as amended)?

“How could a justice jettison Section 141 of the Electoral Act 2015 (as amended)?

“How could a Justice use a pre-election matter for which Senator Odey and even the PDP, (a party Hon. Jarigbe claimed to have won a primary election) not joined in the matter held in Abuja (a court without jurisdiction) to determine an election matter thus violating and contradicting the fundamental principles of elementary law.

“How could a Justice of the court of Appeal use a matter purportedly filed by one Chief John Alaga who was not even a candidate of any political party in the 5th December, 2020 Cross River North Senatorial District bye-election to rule on an appeal?

Dr Gabriel further accused the Judge by saying that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, an election tribunal delivered a judgment in so much hurry. It commenced sitting on Tuesday and ruled on Friday. There were three appeals with all the processes, objections, motions, etc., with very voluminous documents. These documents were not read nor even opened.

“No doubt, the controversy surrounding this matter has attracted it to be in the public domain. A real huge disgust to the public

“Cases such as this keep reoccurring because Nigerians prefer to remain mute. People are often reluctant to speak out on issues such as this. Little wonders, corruption has become pervasive in our Judiciary today, he concluded.

Why Matthew Page Is After My Shadow

 

By Philip Agbese

I will court some decorousness and pretend to be excited, though it’s far from my mood now. As someone always mindful of my beloved country, and a slave to conventions of decency in intellectual engagements, I dare say, I am unscathed and undazzled by the dangerous hurricane wind which blew past me last week.

Straightforwardly, the initiates know, it is not easy to devout time and energies into a published research work. And on the strength of this reality, I will acknowledge the academic exercise coupled by a non-resident scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, (CEIP), Mr.  Matthew T. Page for his published paper, “Fake Civil Society: The Rise of Pro-Government NGOs in Nigeria,” dated July 28, 2021.

However, let me also quickly add that whatever findings postulated by Mr. Page in the published work has only ingrained on the tiniest part of my psyche. It only pricks as an excellent census of Non-Governmental Organizations’ (NGOs) operational in Nigeria.  

Nevertheless, I have to contest some tenders and disagree with Mr. Page, who is also, an Associate Fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House, and doubles as a non-resident Fellow with the Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja. The author of the work has too generously assumed a number of presumptions and conclusions in the paper on the status, modus operandi, the significance and personalities of NGOs in Nigeria, with specific emphasis on where the searchlight beamed interminably on my personage.

Page attempted to drag my reputation into public disrepute, by aligning a retinue of what he called “briefcase” NGOs to me with the badge of “fakeness,” even though there was no established prima facie case or evidence of my criminal indulgence or misdemeanor. It is a negative profiling of my person, no doubt. But I am sure, Matthew T. Page never intended such outcomes, but only undertook a research to understand how NGOs operate in Nigeria. It is understandable.

Nonetheless, I have every problem with the salient judgement tone and insinuations propagated by the researcher. I felt more compelled to raise a voice and make a few clarifications, against the   loud denunciations’, judgements, interpretations’, justifications and condemnations of NGOs as categorized by Mr. Page’s analysis as “credible” and single-person groups. 

But famously, let me make this declaration. I am a bona fide citizen of Nigeria, with an unfading passion for my beloved country. I am also a staunch democrat and an avid believer in the cardinal doctrines of democratic governance, especially its guaranteed liberties.

And most significantly, years back, I observed my country as a nation thrown into deliberate quagmire, distress, trauma and torments by demonic forces. It’s a game gleefully exercised by the power drunk or power-hungry elites, who are in connivance with feudal lords and the affluent desperadoes who have held the rest of the downtrodden captive on a vicious podium of power tussle for supremacy.

In a number of years, we endured massive killings, sorrows, agonies, conflagrations of varying dimensions, the reign of gun-stars and gangsters, ethnic warlords, and the supremacy of armed militias against the Nigerian state. And for similar number of years, succeeding leaders of Nigeria helplessly watched the evolution, embryony, progression and entrenchments of these multidimensional lethal crises developed near impenetrable foothold in the country, until the Buhari Presidency.

When President Muhammadu Buhari became the democratic leader of Nigeria in 2015, his early actions from day one, conveyed a clear message of his willingness and commitment to regenerate and redeem Nigeria from the barrage of these subsisting afflictions, listed earlier. In President Buhari, I saw the portrait of a leader with a strong will, honesty, strength of character and a staunch  commitment to the liberation of Nigerians.

Before proceeding, let me be blunt to Mr. Page! In all democracies around the world, there is always a conflict of partisan interests from the citizens. Leaders are loved and hated, supported or frustrated.  There is no country where a serving President is loved or hated by all; there is no single nation with such complacent citizenry. 

And I have never concealed my love for President Buhari, which is effervescent till tomorrow. I do not also hate those who hate him. We only interface on the strength of superior arguments either in support or in opposition to Mr. President depending on one’s camp or standpoint. Therefore, Mr. Page cannot determine for me, whether to love or hate my President or query my working in his favour.

My assertions are not peculiar to Nigeria. Even in great world democracies like Britain and America, love or hatred for a particular reader is unevenly spread amongst the people. In yesterday’s American political history, we saw Americans who perceived ex-President Donald J. Trump as a narcissist, white supremacist, braggard, a psycho and a poor leader, who deserved to be booted out of office after his first tenure.

 But then, there were other Americans, who loved President Trump in spite of his personal shortcomings as outlined by his opposing camp. We are witnesses to the resentful actions of the die-hard supporters of former President Trump when they assailed the Capitol Hill and violently broke into the building and disrupted congress proceedings. So, my love for President Buhari is not a restraining weapon for anyone who chooses to hate him. My working for him was an expression of him because he pricked my psyche as a better leader more than others.      

So, Buhari’s early manifestations as Nigeria’s leader endeared and tethered me to his personality/administration. I decided straightaway, without any modicum of hesitation to also conscript myself into the clan of patriots like my President and loyalists of my country, as exhibited by Mr. President. At all times, I elevated and defended national interest first in support of Buhari.

Unfortunately, down the lane, sprouted forces that were arrayed to sabotage Buhari and the country emerged and are at work to see the administration’s end . The sabs launched massive attacks especially on sectors and areas President Buhari’s imprints started registering early remarkable impacts and the radical reversal of the nation’s assailing misfortunes.

Consequently, in just a few months, the Nigerian Military made tremendous impacts in the counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast. The then leader of the counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria, Lt. Gen. TY Buratai (rtd) (now Nigerian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Benin Republic) ensured he never disappointed Nigerians and Mr. President, his Commander-In-Chief. He led troops to miraculously recover Nigerian territories captured by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, freed thousands of Nigerians abducted and held hostage by insurgents in the Northeast in the shortest time. 

The Military descended on armed bandits and cattle rustlers in the Northwest and a lot more, even unsparing of violent militants and secessionists down southern Nigeria. Normalcy begun to return to hitherto troubled areas. This respite lasted all through to end of 2017, but was brutally terminated.

And the saboteurs’ and detractors with unimaginable nest and angles of attacks unleashed co-ordinated or diversified atrocities on the Nigerian state to reverse the gains. And deliberate misinformation, fake news and de-marketing of the President and the Nigerian Military’s efforts in containing insecurities became the official antiphonies of the conspiratorial gangs.

As a patriot and someone loyal to my country Nigeria, I could not stand on the fence and idle as some devious Nigerians plotted further destruction of my country and future. I had to conscript myself in this war in my smallest way. It was about the time the United States of America identified cyberspace terrorism globally as a portent weapon used by terrorists, their agents and sympathizers’ in trumpeting the triumph of terrorism against state forces. Therefore, I joined the Nigerian military in these war times to battle cyberspace terrorism.

We all know, wars are emergencies. And every energy and strategy are invested into it insofar as it can railroad a victorious cause.  That was exactly how I functioned in these crucial and precarious times to fight terrorists and bandits for my country. Mr. Page and his partners must know in wartimes insistence on legality and illegitimacy of actions geared towards entrenching peace and security or ending the holocaust do not occupy the center stage.

In fact, questioning the registration status of NGOs which birthed to support the Military match the propaganda prowess of terrorists, appears more like an ass in the face of this emergency and insulated from strict interpretations within the precincts of law.  These actions or dramatis personae cannot be invalidated by Mr.  Page’s skewed definition of “credible” and pro-government NGOs.

Let me put Mr. Page on notice that after this piece, I will respond finally to Mr. Page on why his categorization of NGOs in Nigeria as credible and discredited merely on the bases of their outings or output in Nigeria is disingenuous and faulty.

So, I like to conclude this piece by reiterating to Mr. Page and his admirers that his submissions on my person in the paper titled, “Fake Civil Society: The Rise of Pro-Government NGOs in Nigeria,” only conveyed his repulsion of me, my vehicles of battles against terrorists and for standing up for country at its most difficult and challenging times. I perceive Mr. Page’s elucidations only within the prism of  his  desire,  together with  his sponsors to resort to the pen to persecute me for the exhibited patriotism and loyalty to  my country. But I am unfazed by his poisonous arrows.

Agbese is a human rights activist and scholar based in the United Kingdom.