By Chiedu Okoye

No country on earth can develop economically and technologically without having a responsive, visionary, and competent government at the centre. Nobody is unaware that there is a nexus between national development and good political leadership. And only good political leaders can drive developmental initiatives in their countries.

Again, in developed countries that belong to the first world, their political leaders are the choices of the people or voters. So, if a political leader in a developed country has performed abysmally in many areas of political leadership, he or she will, certainly, suffer electoral misfortune during another cycle of election in that country. In most developed countries of the world, the votes of the people count.

However, in Africa where democracy, the most acceptable type of government, is taking roots, election rigging has been incorporated into the democratic culture and electoral processes of many African countries. Most African political leaders, who perceive their control of political power as their eternal possession, will do everything within their powers to perpetuate themselves in office. Think about Hossini Mubarak of Egypt, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Paul Biya of Cameroun, and others.

In Nigeria, the story is not different. Since our country’s attainment of political sovereignty in 1960, the political will and choices of the people have always been subverted. Was Alhaji Tafawa Balewa the political choice of the people when the British imperialists handed the baton of political leadership to him in 1960? Was the election that brought Alhaji Shehu Shagari to power in 1979 free and fair?

Again, since the dawn of the Fourth Republic in 1999, and till now, almost every presidential election conducted in Nigeria was a subject of litigation in the court. And it was the Supreme Court that determined the winners of those disputed presidential election results.  Our politicians’ resort to the judiciary for the determination of the authentic winner of every presidential election contest in Nigeria shows their lack of trust and faith in our electoral processes and democratic culture.

Now, the February 25, 2023 presidential election result is being challenged in the court by some presidential candidates in that election. Two front runners in that presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a serial contender for the presidential post; and Mr. Peter Obi, the charismatic presidential candidate of Labour Party had filed their petitions at the Presidential Election Tribunal Abuja, challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.

More so, a great majority of Nigerians, who belong to diverse ethnic backgrounds and religious groups, had expressed their dissatisfaction with the conduct of the 2023 presidential election. The non-use of bimodal voter authentication System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing (iREV) to transmit the presidential election results in real time is perceived by many Nigerians as a ploy and strategy by INEC to rig the presidential election in favour of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And not a few local and foreign election observer teams have described the conduct of the election as shambolic and farcical.

Now that the presidential election tribunal is hearing the case, the onus is on the members of the presidential election tribunal to live up to the expectations of the populace. It behooves them to maintain impartiality, abide by the tenets of the judiciary, and resist the allurement of money as they adjudicate on the case. And they should ensure that their judicial acts are shorn of ethnic bias and religious sentiments in order that the cause of justice is served. When justice has prevailed in the case, our democracy will be strengthened.

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So, I beseech the judges on the presidential election tribunal team to desist from using technicalities to frustrate petitioners, who have valid cases. Rather, they should look at the cases dispassionately and give their rulings in good conscience. And they should not allow themselves to be brow-beaten into acting against the dictates of the law by the political desperadoes and APC political honchos, who control the levers of power at the centre.

However, the challenge thrown at Mr. Peter Obi to go to court regarding the 2023 disputed presidential election hints at the fact that the judiciary can be compromised and manipulated. Now, the image of the judiciary is already besmirched. The people’s perception of the judiciary as a corrupt body is why those who are handling the presidential election case should engage in noble acts that will disabuse the minds of the people of the negative notions they have about the judiciary.

And an independent and unbiased judiciary is a force for the deepening of our democracy. For example, when politicians known that their ill-gotten electoral victories can be upturned by the election tribunals and courts, they’ll not spend huge sums of money to manipulate the electoral processes to achieve their political ends. Instead, they’ll campaign for votes based on the leadership qualities they possess and the achievement they have recorded as leaders.

Now, Nigeria is at the cross-roads of political uncertainties, and political tension is rising in the country owing to the disputed presidential election result.

So it will be improper and imprudent for members of the presidential election tribunal to decide the case based on political convenience and expedience under the guise of not throwing Nigeria into the cauldron of political violence. They should take this saying to heart: you cannot make omelette without breaking eggs.

The political listing of the ship of state can be steadied by the upright, unbiased, and fair rulings of the presidential election tribunal and the Supreme Court. Denying justice to the presidential election petitioners in the name of safeguarding our democracy will be a bad political precedent that has the potentiality of halting the growth of our democracy.

The ball is in your courts, members of the Judiciary

Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State.