Chris Onuoha – Lagos
A pro-democracy activist and former associate of late Chief Moshood Abiola, Chief Sunbo Onitiri has tasked the Nigeria judiciary to step up its credibility to save the country from judicial collapse.
Speaking to journalists as the nation marked June 12 as Democracy Day, Chief Onitiri lamented the way judges in the country pronounce judgments in a bias manner.
He said that “Nigeria’s judiciary which is the last hope of the common man and also the anchor hope of our democracy is under serious threat. The institution needs strong men, brave and bold who can sit and pronounce resounding judgments that can save this country.”
Using the 1993 monumental judgment delivered by Justice Moshood Olugbami of the Lagos state High Court prevailing on the then electoral commission headed by Prof. Henry Nwosu to allow Nigerians vote in the election, Chief Onitiri, not only saw that as a sterling credibility to the Nigerian judiciary, but also a victory for the common man.
“The 11th June 1993 judgment that made Nigerians to vote overwhelmingly for Abiola was a landmark victory for Nigerians. Arthur Nzeribe and his group in the ABN procured a judgment at an Abuja High Court that the June 12 election must not hold.
“I went to a Lagos state High Court, argued as a citizen and obtained an ex parte order to dust that decision. The order was respected by the then Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida. It was a historic judgment that enabled Nigerians to vote and it formed the foundation of the democratic struggle.
“The election then was an open secret ballot system. It was a good electoral system, so transparent and credible. And that is why we say it was a free and fair election ever conducted in this country, but unfortunately, an election tagged the most free and fair in the country was annulled,” he bemoaned.
The significance of that judgment, according to Chief Onitiri, should not be over-emphasised because it was the judgment that later led to the Nigeria Judiciary Council (NJC) giving an order that judges should be very careful on how they give out ex parte orders.
He however, emphasized that the only way an election can be credible in Nigeria is to use a system that enables voters to use their voters card to vote anywhere they are, adding that “you don’t need to queue in the sun or rain. This can be done at the comfort of your vicinity.”
