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Atiku, Obi vs Tinubu: I don’t trust S’Court – Agbakoba *Too many ‘silly’ judgements
Olisa Agbakoba, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is completely peeved with the quality of judgements coming out of the judiciary in recent times especially the Supreme Court, saying their supine and questionable decisions had dealt a heavy blow on their integrity and effectiveness as the last authority in matters of disputes.
Agbakoba, a renowned human rights activist and for President of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), who spoke on Sunday, as a guest of Law Weekly, a programme on Channels Television, told his host that nobody would have thought decades ago that the apex court would degenerate so low as to issue the type of pronouncements coming out of that level of judicial officers today.
He cited the recent decision of the apex court, regarding Ahmad Lawan, Senate President, who returned to claim a ticket for the Senate in Yobe State, after a failed bid at the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in clear violation of the Electoral Act, 2022, which made it clear that nobody could aspire to two positions within an election circle.
Apart from the case, which had raised a lot of dust in legal and public circles, the erudite lawyer and activist, also revisited the case of Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, who was handed down his office in 2019, even after coming a distant fourth position in the election of that year, through the controversial decision of the Supreme Court.
Though he said the answered were clearly laid out and the issues very clear for judges that would wish to do justice, Agbakoba, who spoke on the issue of the current legal challenge being posed to the outcome of the recent presidential election by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, against the victory of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the February 25 presidential election, said he had no confidence that the right decision would be taken to do justice to the matter, given the character of the current Supreme Court.
His words: “I’ve lost a bit of confidence in what the courts have been doing lately. There was a time you could say on the facts and the law, this is the likely outcome. Today you cannot because of all kinds of silly decisions. The most silly was that concerning the President of the Senate, who in order to become Nigeria’s President, rushed off to buy a ticket to be a presidential candidate of the APC and that means he did not take part in the senatorial elections.
“Lo and behold, he lost. He now ran back after the horse had bolted. Clearly to anybody who had any brain, including the justices of the Supreme Court might have had, and they said no, the man should be the senatorial candidate. That is the most ridiculous decision I’ve ever heard that the Supreme Court has delivered. So, that is why, of course I don’t want to talk about Imo State where everything was turned upside down. So, I don’t have the sort of confidence that I used to have in the judiciary and I’ll not be surprised if this thing goes one way or the other.
“I have the legal tools and the factual issues, so if If I put it into my computer, I know the answer it will give me. But I’m not a member of the panel. So, I don’t know if the justices will see it the way I’m seeing it. But I can tell you that from my own perspective as a lawyer of 45 years at the bar that the answers are glaringly obvious.
“But as Oliver Wendell Holmes said in the realist school of jurisprudence that it is the prophesy of what the court does in fact and nothing more pretentious that is the law. So, if you ask me, what will be the outcome of the petition, first of all, I cannot say, because it’s sub-judice, but second of all I cannot even say, because the Supreme Court is unpredictable.
“They ought to be predictable, which is now why people are now beginning to question – there’s a new school of thinking, which is saying, should the Supreme Court really be final? See what they’re causing now? Should they be final or should their decisions be subject to judicial review? It’s an argument that is now growing in judicial circles. The confidence that is eroding for people to begin to think, what’s the hell, can’t we do something to these people?
“That’s what is happening. Seven men just come out, sit down on a chair and read something and we say okay, that governor is sacked. Who are these people? It should be taken seriously. That wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago. When these people come out, you fear them when you see them come out. And when they speak, they speak without fear or favour. Is it the same thing now? I don’t know!”
I’m the only governor that local government chairmen will come and abuse and I’ll and I’ll say I wish them well. God does not make mistatkes. But even if it was a mistake, by the special grace of God, I’m here today. And let me appeal to them, may they continue to make mistake.”
These were the exact words with which Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, replied Nyesom Wike, his predecessor in office and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with whom he has been at loggerheads since last year.
In what is interpreted as a direct riposte to Wike’s claim last weekend that his bringing Fubara on board as his successor, for which he courted enmity among his political friends in the state, was a mistake, which would be rectified in due course, the governor had regretted that all his efforts to make peace seemed to have failed.
It was also a day the governor indicated that he had pulled off the gloves for a hard-knuckle fight with the former governor, by hinting of plans to set up a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate how the affairs of governance were conducted in the state before he assumed office on May 29, 2023.
Fubara, who spoke while swearing in Dagogo Israel Iboroma (SAN), as the new Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of the State (AGS-CoJ) at Government House, Port Harcourt said he was bringing the Attorney-General on board at a critical time that there were lots of legal matters that needed to be tackled, with bravery and courage.
His word: “So, my brother, Dagogo Iboroma, you are going to be the brand new Attorney-General of our dear State. SSG (Secretary to the State Government) give him his letter, he is the Attorney-General. Why are we bringing you at this very critical time? We have a lot of issues around us. We believe that you are not going to be the one that when they send service to you, you go and file “nolle prosequi” or you go and file one thing that would kill us here.
“Let me also say this, you have a big task. We will be setting up a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the affairs of governance. So, brace up, I am not going back on it. Please, defend us. We know that you are going to defend us because your record is clean. You are a gentleman and peaceful. You are not a noise maker. People like you are endowed, and they have the fear of God.
“I am happy that this is happening today to mark the beginning of a new era in our administration. When I said that I had a reason for being patient, it is because I know that we are all from one family. And if we have a disagreement, no matter how bad it is, it should be resolved amicably.
“But it has become very clear that this disagreement, there is no way to resolve it amicably. And for a lot of reasons, there are visible evidence that there is sabotage, deliberate attempt to sabotage this administration. For that reason, we have to move forward. And, moving forward, if it means taking decisions that are going to hurt anybody, we are not going back.”
Berating Zaccheaus Adangor, Iboroma’s predecessor as AGS whom he accused of indulging in sabotaging the same administration he served, Fubara, said: “It is good that you were already a SAN before your appointment. This means that you’re a very thorough lawyer and has earned your appointment. Not like the one we had here, who while in office, they went to pay money to get SAN. When you become a SAN, the only thing you will do is to sabotage government.
“Instead of you to close your mouth, you go publicly to claim that you are a learned person. But go publicly to tell people that you were the Chief Law Officer. Chief Law Officer? You were here and you went to stand before a Magistrate Court. At that time, you didn’t remember that you were a Chief Law Officer, going against the ethics of your job. Like I said, you will get your reward, not in the next world, but in this world.”
Lead British International School, Gwarinpa, Abuja, at the centre of a recent bullying incident, may have to cough out a whopping N500million if the action by the family of Namitra Bwala, whose daughter was seen being slapped and pushed around by some other students of the school succeeds with their demands.
The Bwalas have approached a Federal High Court (FCT), sitting in Abuja, with the demand for the monetary damages, in a civil suit instituted against the school, weeks after a video, which went viral, surfaced in public, showing their daughter in dire stress in the hands of her tormentors.
The outrage elicited by the incident led to the temporary closure of the school by the management, which announced that it had commenced an investigation into the matter while one Maryam, the main culprit, in a separate video, publicly apologised to the victim for bullying her.
Regardless, the family which seems not pacified by the steps, is going further to press for monetary compensation, going by the suit at court, dated May 9, marked FCT/HC/CV/2341/24, where the student is also demanding a public apology that should be published in two national dailies from the school.
The N500million in general damages is being demanded from the school for “failing in its obligation to provide a safe and conducive learning environment for their daughter, the document, said adding that the institution was also liable, having “failed to prevent the assault, inform her parent immediately, and carry out an investigation until the video became viral on social media.”
Besides, the family is also asking for: “A declaration that the Defendant’s failure to prevent the assault, torment, emotional distress, pain, and trauma suffered by the claimant while under the custody and supervision of the defendant amounts to negligent conduct on the part of the defendant.
“A declaration that the defendant’s failure to immediately inform the claimant’s parents of the assault and emotional trauma suffered by the claimant while under the custody and supervision of the defendant amounts to negligent conduct on the part of the defendant.
“An order directing the Defendant to issue a public apology to the Claimant in two national daily newspapers. An order directing the Defendant to pay the Claimant the sum of N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira) as general damages for the Defendant’s breach of the duty of care it owes to the Claimant, and its negligent conduct in failing to prevent the assault, torment, emotional distress, pain, trauma and breach of privacy suffered by the Claimant while under the Defendant’s custody and supervision. The cost of this suit at N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira).
“An order directing the Defendant to pay the Claimant post-judgment interest on the sum(s) awarded at the rate of 10% per annum from the date of the delivery of judgment until the judgment is fully and finally settled and such orders or other orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.”
Are Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2023 and Peter Obi, his Labour Party (LP), counterpart, coming back together to re-enact their joint ticket in the 2019, edition, where they ran against Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), or is there something else cooking between the two?
This has remained the question on the lips of Nigerians as a picture of the pair was released on Monday, after Obi was said to have visited the former VP, to whom he teamed up as the running mate in the February 23, 2019 presidential election, in which Buhari was declared winner, was released by Atiku.
Sharing the picture in which he was seen in a warm handshake with Obi, former Governor of Anambra State on his verified X handle, Atiku, believed to still be eyeing the Presidency for a record eight times, wrote: “It was my honour and privilege to host
@PeterObi today.”
Contrary to the belief in certain quarters that Obi’s exit from the PDP in May 2022, was fuelled by the ambition of the former VP, Atiku’s camp, has insisted that it was actually Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), that actually forced him out of the party.
Paul Ibe, spokesman of Atiku, who maintained that his boss was in agreement that the Presidency should be zoned to the South in 2023, insisted that it must be zoned to the South East particularly, but that the insistence of Wike, and others outside the zoned, left him with no choice to throw his hat in the ring.
He told Seun Okinbaloye’s Mic On podcast released on Saturday: “Atiku did not force Peter Obi out of the party. Wike was instrumental in the exit of Obi because Wike had promoted the zoning of the presidency to the South.
“Atiku Abubakar had said that he was prepared to get himself off the ticket if the party zoned the ticket to the Southeast. Wike frustrated that effort because he believed that if it was zoned to the south, not the South East, he would be in the best position to be able to get the ticket.”
May you make more mistakes, Fubara mocks Wike *Moves to probe ex-gov
BREAKING: Abuja school to cough out N500million compensation for bullied girl
Another tag-team? Notions, as Obi, Atiku, meet in Abuja
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