Ridiculing the Supreme Court?  

A dangerous trend has been playing out in the polity for some time now which if not checkmated, may end up throwing the nation into chaos soonest. It is the situation where politicians and political parties lampoon the judiciary whenever a verdict goes against them.

This was demonstrated once again on Tuesday when the Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) reacted angrily to the ruling of the Supreme Court which upheld the judgements of both the Ekiti State Governorship Tribunal and the Court of Appeal which had

earlier affirmed Governor Ayodele Fayose’s victory.

In a unanimous judgement, a seven-man panel of Justices of the apex court, led by Justice John Fabiyi, also held that the appeal which challenged Fayose’s election victory at the 2014 Ekiti State governor- ship election lacked merit.

But reacting to the ruling, the APC in Ekiti State questioned the ruling of the learned justices of the Su- preme Court, saying the ver- dict left moral questions un- answered.

In a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, the party said though it had accepted the verdict because it had no choice, there were moral is- sues arising from it.

This is disdain, pure and simple. It questions the integ-

rity of the learned justices of the Supreme Court. Such attitude is unbecoming of a political party which will always have reason(s) to ap- proach the court for one issue or the other and runs counter to civilized norms.

Civilised behaviour teaches that court rulings must be respected until set aside by a superior court. So, whether a court ruling is favourable or not, parties to the case must not do anything to undermine it.

This unfortunately is what the APC in Ekiti State did by its reaction to the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday on Gov. Fayose. The APC in Ekiti State must be told in no uncer- tain terms to retrace its steps. It is a dangerous path which all and sundry must strive to avoid.