The case of alleged certificate fraud involving former vice president Atiku Abubakar and President Bola Tinubu, according to the Eastern Union, a pro-democracy organisation in Nigeria, puts the Nigerian court on trial.
Charles Anike, the EU National President, asked the judiciary in a conversation with The Whistler to follow the norms with which the American judiciary handled the certificate fabrication issue.
Anike urged the Nigerian judiciary to take a cue from the openness with which Atiku’s case was handled in the US and apply it positively.
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Remember that on September 19, 2023, Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert of the US had ordered Chicago State University to give Abubakar access to President Tinubu’s results.
Finally, a senior judge, Nancy Maldonado, heard the case and decided in favour of Atiku, denying Tinubu’s requests for a stay of execution.
Anike said, “The Nigerian judiciary is still seriously on trial. Presently our judiciary has lost considerable credibility as a supposed sacred institution.
“The politicians, especially since the dark days of former President Buhari, reduced Nigerian judiciary to mere tools for the political bandits to validate their civilian coups, hence will always hijack the political processes and tell anyone that dare question their acts to go to court.
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“In other climes, the judiciary is usually an independent arm of government that will always expose and interrogate the excesses of the Executive and the Legislature, but not so in Nigeria.
“Therefore, there is serious and urgent need to review our constitution, to reflect the present realities. Funny enough, the Executive and Legislative arms are usually ‘elected’ officials but are given unwanted powers to appoint and screen judicial officials.
“This is the obvious reason the Nigerian judicial officers are toys in the hands of fraudulent politicians. Going forward, there must be an established system whereby judicial officers shall be appointed by the Judicial Council. Just look back at how the American courts quickly attended to Atiku’s suit against Tinubu over the certificate issue.
“There were no executive interferences or delays. It could not have been possible here in Nigeria. Nigerian courts would adjourn and delay until justice will be miscarried.
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“In Nigeria today, no serious person is interested in our court system anymore, rather, we have all resigned to fate. There’s now the general notion that our judiciary, which is supposed to be the last hope of the common man, is now the lost hope of the common man.”
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