2023 Election Petition Tribunal: Urgent Call to Save Delta State From Corrupt Judiciary
Feature
By Ezekiel Kagbala
It is exceptionally crucial to remind
the three-man panel in the governorship election petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, Delta State, led by Justice C.H Ahuchaogu, that the problem with the Nigerian Judiciary is that, some dishonorable people find their way into the system as judges.
It is not surprising to hear horrific stories of certain high-ranking judicial officers who have their judgments influenced by bribes of various sorts. However, Delta State election Petition Tribunal judges should learn from the example of The Chairperson of Panel 2 of the Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Kano, where Justice Azinge proved integrity, and raised an alarm that some lawyers were attempting to bribe judges in her team.
It will not be out of place to expect a similar level of integrity from Justice Ahuchaogu's led three-man panel in the Delta State 2023 Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. But regrettably, one could read the body language of the Tribunal from what played out in the court on Saturday, August 12th, 2023, When the Chairman of the panel called on the council to Gbagi, Mr. Mato Magaji Ibrahim, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to adopt his final written address.
Gbagi's Lawyer rose and informed the Tribunal that he and his colleagues who appeared were ready to adopt the final written address. However, an appeal to move an application before the adoption of the final written address was made by Magaji SAN, and the application was rejected by the Tribunal chairman in a manner that suggested a clandestine interest to protect a party in the matter.
Perhaps, it was perceived that the said exhibit was extremely factual with authority that cannot be ignored for decision making and the clever way out was to rescind that portion of evidence from the side that may not have anything to give to those with the weapon of right and wrong judgment.
Public perception will not spare a compromised or controversial Judgement particularly when the proof is beyond a reasonable doubt, factually authentic, and enriched with authority that could not be refuted by a Tribunal that should care about validity and integrity.
The said application was well articulated, with these authorities; the cases of Samson Awoyake v. Joshua O. Ogunbiyi (1985) and Nebo v. FCFA (1998) 11 NWLR (Pt 574) 480 at 489-493 (per Kalgo JCA, yet the Justice Ahuchaogu maintained his side of interest.
'Almighty' Justice Ahuchaogu was ready to jump into the role of a defendant when the 1st to the 4th, 11th to 13th Respondents said they are not objecting to the application.
It was reported that; "Even when counsel to Gbagi, cited Aregbeshola v. Oyetola which is an election petition case, written addresses has been adopted and a police report was discovered after the adoption of addresses, Justice Ahuchaogu was Poised not to see the application fly, he even went to the extent of querying Magaji, SAN, why he was interested in another person's document.
"One is therefore tempted to ask if this is the once-friendly panel. Could this be the same panel that was once rumored to have rejected N4 billion?".
The candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi is known to be vast in the law, also handling his election Petition as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, hence, Hon. Justice Ahuchaogu should remember that the judiciary cannot exist without the trust and confidence of the people in the light of being accountable to legal and ethical standards.
Judicial officers can be held accountable for their behavior, even without invading the independence of their decision-making.
We pray that Justice Ahuchaogu's decision will save Delta State from total collapse, social-economic breakdown, and illegalities.
It should be remembered that the EndSars protest was born out of distrust and bad governance, a repeat of it should not be avoided.
