Supreme Court Failed Fair Hearing Test

Argues that the Supreme Court did not apply Fair Hearing in dismissing the appeal against the verdict of the Presidential Election Tribunal

required to be conducted in the presence of the parties in order to be a fair hearing, section 36( 3) requires it to be held in “public”. Section 36( 3) is quite clear and unequivocal on this point. It says:

“The proceedings of a court or the proceedings of any tribunal relating to the matters mentioned in subsection ( 1) of this section (including the announcement of the decisions of the court or tribunal) shall be held in public.”

As the examination referred to in the statement by the CJN was not held in public, it is not the hearing required by Section 36( 3) of the Constitution. Secret hearings and trials are abhorrent to democracy. What happened in the Supreme Court on October 30 is therefore a farce, not a valid hearing and determination of the appeal lodged by former Vice- President Atiku against the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 Presidential election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC).

Finally, the decision of the Supreme Court dismissing the appeal for lacking merits is a law within the meaning of Section 1 of the Constitution and, being inconsistent with Section 36 of the Constitution, it is, by the self-executing declaration in Section 1( 3), null and void. Section 1( 3) is a self executing declaration and does not require anything else to bring it into effect. In other words, the decision dismissing the appeal is null and void without further ado.

Whether or not the decision of the Supreme Court dismissing the appeal is a law within the meaning of section 1( 3) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court is under and subject to Constitution as the “Supreme Law of the land binding on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” including the Supreme Court.

-Nwabueze is an eminent senior lawyer based in Lagos