ON Thursday, November 10,theactingPresident of the Federal Court of Appeal (PCA), JusticeDalhatu Adamu,directed that the Borno State Election Petitions Tribunal be dissolved. This, he did, through a mere phonecall made by the court registrar to thetribunal secretary. The tribunal had been sitting in Abuja for security reasons. The dissolution directive came a few minutes to the delivery of judgment in the case between the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Mohammed Goni (the Petitioner), and the All Nigeria Peoples' Party (ANPP) candidate and incumbent governor, Kashim Shettima, (the Respondent). No reason was given the court or the litigants for this summary arrest of judicial process. Itneeds be quickly mentioned that Goni had requested the replacement of the tribunal but was overruled by a Supreme Court decision about two weeks earlier.Two days after thestrange - some would even term it odd - decision of Justice Adamu, andonly 24 hours to the 180 days deadline by which the law allowsthe conclusion ofan election petition, Justice Adamu reversed himself and ordered the tribunal back into existence to deliver its judgment. It is reported thatthe Court of Appeal president did this in response to protest from various quarters.The 'arrest' of a ruling on an election petitioncontributed largely to a negative perception of the reputation of two top judicial officers of the land, as well as the entire judiciary.Beside the fact that the sad episode is yet to be resolved, the country and its citizens are yet to recover from the damage done to personal and institutional credibility.But, given theencouragingcomments from thehighest level ofjudiciary, and the Presidency, there was high hope thattheright lessons have been learnt.Justice Adamu's action, therefore, in arresting the judicial process was most unexpected; indicating perhaps that thejudicialsystem is yet tooutgrow some of its demeaning character, includingthe arrest ofjudicial process.Recently, the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, at an NBA event in Abuja, spoke against some unwholesome rulings from the bench. These include theapproval ofplea bargain, whichhedescribed as ofdubious origin andalien to our constitution,the indiscriminate granting of often frivolous ex-parte motions to delayjudicial process,the flagrant abuseofcitizens' fundamental rights by the granting of holding charges to ill-prepared prosecutors, and thegranting ofinjunctionsto restrainofficers of thelaw from performing theirdutiesin the course of justice. We could also add the twist and turn of decisions by a highly placed judge. This smacks of the whimsical, and detracts from credibility. But the Benchmust have no room forcapriciousness.Argument that the learned PCA probably acted in error emanating from insufficient or skewed information presented to him is neither comforting nor satisfactory. In his position as the nation's second most senior judicial officer, he ought to have been more cautious and avoid falling into such legal pit hole. First, he should have been mindful of the basic legal necessity of hearing all the sides before taking a decision.Second, he ought not to have seemingly forgotten so soon, the controversial circumstances under which he assumed mantle of leadership of the Court of Appeal. Surely, his action tended to re-open all those factors that heated the polity during the dispute between former Chief Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo salami.Additionally, Justice Adamu would have saved himself and the judiciary the current embarrassment had he exercised more care that would have made him aware of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the same matter. Why else would the acting PCA act contrary to the pronouncement of the Supreme Court delivered just 14 days earlier' Was he really not aware of this, or was he misadvised' And on so weighty a matter as the ruling on a governorship election, why wait till the last day - naythe last minutes - to act and through an oral instruction'To the extent that the acting PCA has, weeks after, failed to give reasons for the manner he acted in respect of the Borno State Election Petitions Tribunal, it is disappointing that his action was below the level expected of his position, even in an acting capacity. He has by his action raised doubt as to his competence to preside on the Appeal Court. The country needs a substantive PCA with greater credentials.Specifically, the Nigerian judiciary cannot, and should not take further damage. Nigeria's experiment in democracy can do only with a supportive judiciary.
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