By Ohio. I. M. Candy
On the 26th of October 2023, the gods of the Supreme Court in their wisdom and infallibility declared President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Their infallibility is rooted and enshrined in Section 235 of the Constitution (as amended). This has put a seal and stamp on the judgment of their Lordships.
The section states, “Without prejudice to the powers of the President or of the Governor of a State with respect to prerogative of mercy, no appeal shall lie to any other body or person from any determination of the Supreme Court”
The meaning and force of this section was reechoed by a strong Bench of the Supreme Court in the case of ARCON v. FASSISI.
Justice Eso who spoke for the Supreme Court said, “In the Supreme Court, the decision of that Court, in so far as that case is concerned, is final for all ages. It is final in the sense of real finality. It is final forever.”
In Adegoke Motors V. Adesanya, Oputa JSC of blessed memory was tautological and skillfully ambiguous when he said,
“We are final not because we are infallible rather we are infallible because we are final.”
It is interesting to note that the Nigerian Constitution is patterned after that of the United States in many respects. So, drawing from the U.S experience is not out of place.
In November 2000, Americans went to polls to elect a new President and the contestants were Vice President Al Gore of the Democratic Party and then Governor of the State of Texas, George .W. Bush.
The contest was stiff and tough from all indications. The election went well until reports of rigging , faulty machines, voter suppression started coming from the state of Florida.
Though from speculations Gore was in the lead. Surprisingly, to Al Gore and many Americans, it was announced that George Bush had won the election.
Al Gore and his teaming supporters who saw that the margin of victory was just 500votes asked for a re-count and while the recounting of votes was ongoing, the U.S Supreme Court, in what some people would call “Judicial rascality,” disallowed the counting and pronounced Bush as the winner of the election.
Al Gore was obviously not satisfied with the election result. What did he do?. Well, for the sake of American Democratic Institutions he accepted the outcome of the election as pronounced by the Supreme Court. He neither brought down the roof nor did he incite the public against the Judges who ruled against him.
In the 2016 U.S Presidential election, a similar scenario played out when Hillary Clinton had more popular votes of 65, 845, 063 of the total votes cast and yet lost to Donald Trump with 62,980, 160 votes. In short, Clinton had about 3million votes more than Trump. However, Trump, our modern day “Croesus” of the U.S, bribed his way through the electoral college and emerged as the winner of the election.
Hillary Clinton, like Al Gore, expressed her disappointment with the outcome of the election but accepted it for the sake of American Democratic values.
We therefore, accordingly appeal to our “Atikulate” Atiku and the sagacious Obi to accept the judgment of the Supreme Court so that we can all join hands together to make a better Nigeria. It is all part of Democracy.
In a Democracy, you win some and lose some. Atiku had triumphed at the Supreme Court in some of his cases.
I am confident that when the political history of our beloved Country is written, the name Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will be emblazoned in gold and hitched up to the stars. Ditto for Gregory Obi who is now a phenomenon in the politics of Nigeria.
Nigerians are suffering, Nigerians are groaning, Nigerians are crying.
Yes, Nigerians are hungry as only few can afford more than a meal a day.
We pray God to give our leaders the wisdom and knowledge to pilot the affairs of this great Country for the benefit of all.
Ohio. I. M. Candy is a Lawyer based in Benin, the Edo State capital.
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