Of Forged Judgements and Fraudulent Election
Before I go into the ‘word for today’, I must comment briefly on the allegations against some Lawyers, that they forged judgements to beef up their SAN applications. About two years ago, I completed a matter at the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division. I acted for the Appellant. The Respondent failed to file a brief of argument, and I had to apply to the Court, to hear and determine the matter solely on the Appellant’s brief (which I subsequently buttressed with an oral argument at the hearing). To my dismay, when I received the certified true copy (CTC) of the judgement, strange names were listed, as not only appearing with me as Appellant’s counsel in the matter, but as appearing for the Respondent! In a matter in which I appeared as Appellant’s counsel, only with a junior from our chambers, from start to finish. How come?
Naturally, I sent the CTC back to the Court Registrar for amendment. I insisted that the strange names, be deleted from the list of appearances. I, however, wondered where those strange names emanated from. Now that the issue of forged judgements has come up, questions like “did the Lawyers forge the judgements themselves, or with the collusion of judicial staff”, arise.
Osun: The ‘Inconclusive’ Election I have listened with rapt attention, to the different arguments which have been made, about the declaration of the Osun gubernatorial election of September 22, 2018, as inconclusive. As we say in Nigeria, “no Jupiter” can convince me that, the Osun election qualified to be declared inconclusive.
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)(the Constitution), is supreme and binding on all persons and authorities in Nigeria (Section 1(1)), including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Section 1(3) provides that any law which is inconsistent with this supreme Constitution, shall be void, to the extent of its inconsistency.
Section 179(2)(a) and (b), clearly provide that a candidate for election to the office of Governor, shall be deemed to have been duly elected in the case where there are two or more candidates (like in the case of Osun State), where he/she has the highest number of votes cast in the election, and not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in two-thirds of all the local governments in the State. According to the results declared by INEC on Sunday, September 23, the day after the election, even though voting may have been cancelled in some polling units, voting had uuutaken place in the requisite two-thirds of all the local governments in Osun, and Senator Adeleke had the highest number of votes cast and the requisite onequarter of the votes cast in two-thirds of the local governments. Senator Adeleke should therefore, have been declared the winner of the election, and deemed to have been duly elected as Governor of Osun State, in accordance with Section 179(2).
As far as I’m concerned, the constitutional provisions in this regard, are clear and unequivocal. We do not need to go further than the literal rule of interpretation, here. The Constitution, the grundnorm, has laid down exactly what is required, to be declared as the winner of a gubernatorial election. There is also a clear process, as laid down in Section 9(1) of the Constitution, by which the Constitution can be altered – only by the National Assembly, subject to the provisions of the same Section 9. No Electoral Guidelines or Electoral Act, can supersede, or seek to add to, or subtract from, or amend clear constitutional provisions.
It is obvious that, no matter how well intended, any electoral guidelines that seeks to add to the provisions of the Constitution, cannot stand. The only way to have that addition, that where elections are cancelled and so on, and the number of people disenfranchised is higher than the margin between the winner and the runner-up of an election, such election must be declared inconclusive, and a rerun election must be held, is by an Act of the National Assembly.
With all due respect to the Learned Justices of the Supreme Court, I align myself with the argument of Learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Wole Olanipekun, in the Faleke v INEC case, that INEC’s manual for election or guidelines is unconstitutional, because the Constitution has already set out the parameters on how and when a governor should be declared elected in Nigeria. It seems that, this later decision of the Supreme Court somehow contradicts its earlier 2002 decision, in a matter filed by the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, SAM, on registration of political parties. In that case, the Supreme Court held inter alia that, political parties must be registered in accordance with the Constitution, and not INEC guidelines. In that case, Chief Fawehinmi had sought to register a political party, which purportedly did not meet the requirements of the INEC guidelines. In line with the earlier Supreme Court decision in the Fawehinmi case, it follows that, declaration of winners of elections, must also be in accordance with the Constitution, and not the INEC guidelines. INEC: The Architect of Confusion Last Monday night, when I thought about what INEC was seeking to do with the rerun election, I became quite depressed, and found it difficult to sleep. I wondered why INEC would want to become the architect of confusion in Osun State, possibly with a negative multiplier effect in the South West. Constitutionally, Osun State already had a Governor- elect, Senator Demola Adeleke. To me, it seemed that the rerun election, which I consider to be unconstitutional, was simply a ruse to ensure that the APC candidate was unlawfully declared the winner of the election at all cost, having narrowly lost at first instance. I knew even before the rerun election that, that would be the outcome, and indeed, it was.
Why have our our institutions, become so weak and partisan, tools in the hands of the ruling party? They no longer protect the interest of Nigerians; they protect government. They are no longer impartial arbiters; they have openly descended into the arena! Why is government hell bent, on not only taking full control of all our institutions, especially those that are meant to be dispassionate and independent, but converting them to external departments of the executive/APC? The Nigeria Police, is a good example. Their slogan, ‘Police is your friend’, is absolutely ridiculous; the reality is more like, ‘Police is your enemy’! They are like a gang of mobsters, feared by most Nigerians!
Recently, in a situation which was on all fours with the Osun State scenario, in a House of Representatives by-election in Kogi State, the votes cancelled in that election, were higher in number than the margin between the votes of the APC candidate who purportedly had the highest votes, and that of the PDP runner up. INEC declared the APC candidate, the winner of that election! Why didn’t INEC declare that election inconclusive, and hold a rerun election (for the same reasons given in the Osun State scenario)? Or in the alternative, like in Kogi, why didn’t INEC declare Senator Adeleke the winner? Is what is good for the goose, not good for the gander? Assuming, but not conceding, that the INEC guidelines are valid, should they not be applied the same way in all elections, as opposed to being manipulated to have favourable outcomes when it comes to the ruling APC, and unfavourable ones when it comes to the opposition PDP?
Why is the National Assembly Silent? What I find a bit surprising about the Osun situation/Electoral guidelines saga, is
“IT IS CERTAINLY NOT ENCOURAGING, THAT INEC CONTINUES TO INTERPRETE ELECTION OUTCOMES, IN A LOPSIDED ERRATIC MANNER. I HOPE IT WILL NOT LEAD TO CHAOS AND ANARCHY. THIS ‘THE MORE YOU LOOK, THE LESS YOU SEE’ STYLE OF ELECTIONS, IS TRULY WORRISOME”
that the National Assembly has not strongly condemned and denounced the INEC guidelines, as a usurpation of its constitutionally given legislative powers to make laws for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as provided in Section 4 of the Constitution.
Sad Realities Sadly, a question that comes to mind once again, is, is the 1999 Constitution really supreme and binding in Nigeria, or is it just there for decoration? I discussed this issue before, and came to the conclusion that, the latter is the case. My opinion, remains unchanged. So, it is not surprising that, Government has little or no respect for the rule of law, and the provisions of the Constitution are also oftentimes bypassed, for political purposes, as we have witnessed in the case of the Osun State election.
Even though I do not want to sound like an ‘Apostle of Doom’, my conclusion is that, if this type of brazenness, twisting, manipulation and desperation, is an indication of what is to come in the 2019 general elections, I can only predict that, the worst is yet to come! ‘E ti ri nkan kan’ (You haven’t seen anything yet). It is certainly not encouraging, that INEC continues to interprete election outcomes, in a lopsided erratic manner. I hope it will not lead to chaos and anarchy. This ‘the more you look, the less you see’ style of elections, is truly worrisome.
I’m not a particularly religious person, but daily, as I see Nigeria and our democracy being steadily destroyed by lying, greedy, unintelligent, dishonest politicians (with their insatiable thirst for power) and their public official cohorts, I pray that the wrath of God comes down heavily upon them. They deserve it. They really couldn’t care less, about you and me.
P.S. Last week, the Supreme Court of India, in a unanimous decision of five Justices, decriminalised adultery, holding that Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code which had previously provided for the crime of adultery, was unconstitutional, somewhat offensive to women, and archaic.