From Yakubu Busari, Jos
A counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate in the Nigerian February 23, 2019 election, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has said the party is heading to the Supreme Court to find out if the country’s “judiciary has been finally cajoled and intimidated by the executive to do its bidding forever,”
The Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Peter Obi, on Monday filed an appeal at the Supreme Court over the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal judgement of September 11.
Ozeohome said the apex court final verdict would go a long way to address the obvious lapses of the Election Tribunal which he considered they failed hitherto to put into consideration during the verdict.
The legal luminary said the court of appeal is a litmus test for the independence of the judiciary
Ozekheome(SAN) was speaking in an interview with journalists in Jos, the Plateau state capital, recently.
He said: “I want to hear the final say by the Supreme Court. The presidential election tribunal which is peopled by people drawn from the Court of Appeal, is an intermediate court of law.”
“I would prefer to wait for the decision by the Supreme Court before making up my mind whether the Nigeria judiciary has finally be cajoled and intimidated by the executive to do its bidding forever.”
“The reason is that , its the decision of the Supreme Court that would count, but for now, l can confidently say that the case was poorly decided by the Presidential Election Tribunal.
He said the election tribunal verdict was grossly poor evaluation of evidence.
“There was a very poor evaluation of evidence, there was cases and instances where evidence of the respondent that is INEC and Buhari were considered, without considering that of Atiku Abubakar and that of PDP at all.”
Chief Ozekhome
“There was misapplication of the provision of the Constitution and Electoral Act, the INEC guideline, the INEC handbook provision relating to a server by INEC.
“There was an instances the election tribunal behave like “Father Christmas” by giving to the respondent what he didn’t even ask, “for example, they where mainly saying Buhari was qualified to contest the presidential election, when the court came out to say Buhari is not only qualified but “Eminently” qualified.” They were even granting to them more then they asked.
“We are also concerned that if the judgement is not challenged, we will set bad precedent for us in Nigeria in term of business dealings, educational qualification, international investment.
“When you begin to say that all that matters is the name Buhari, and it doesn’t matter whether the surname is Mohammadu or Mohammed, then we are in trouble as a country.
“It means because l have Ozekhome, anybody can come tomorrow and say that my qualification belongs to him even though the surname is Mukila or Mishel. The fact that Ozekhome is the surname is enough to cover, does not matter if your surname is Mukalia, Mulikat, Mishel, Angelo it doesn’t matter. If you then say it doesn’t matter, it means any body can attach certificate to Form (Cfoo1).
“The form itself said to attach the certificate if you said you have it. The tribunal is saying it doesn’t matter, you can just state that you have the qualification.
“Which therefore means anyone can go to court to depose to an affidavit, that is a dangerous signal.
Chief Ozekhome further added that the case is going encourage corruption and may destroy our educational quest.
“This case is going to encourage corruption, destruction of our very fabric of our moral and ethics which means going to school, reading hard very vigorously ,and rigorously to processes a certificate may no longer important.”
“All that may be important is that you have gone to the court of law and sworn to an that you have so and so degree, when you are ask to produce it, you say it doesn’t matter and refer to the case of Atiku Vs Buhari.”
“That is the danger, that is while we are heading to the Supreme Court, we went the court to up turn the judgement of the presidential election tribunal.”
Ozekhome stressed that democracy is not won on platter as you must fight or struggle for it.
“We want democracy to be given a face; democracy is a struggle.
“Nobody should expect that people in power should be dislodge easily.”
“Everybody is not Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who made that prophetic, statement “That my ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian.”
“There are some people you have to push out.
“As l always say, democracy is not a one hundred meters dash race of Ben Johnson or Hussein Bolt that you finish in thirty seconds. It is a marathon of resilience, of competing centrifugal or centripetal forces that are ever at play within ah dynamic society.
That is why we have to be patient to fight it according to the tenet of democracy to enable us widen, deepen, strengthen, deodorised the attitude and aptitude.”
