By Uche Mbah
The Supreme Court has angrily reacted to the claims by the Congress of United Political Parties, CUPP, over their position on the appointment of the Judges who will preside over the Appeal by the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, over who won the 2019 presidential election.
Atiku has appealed the ruling of the Presidential election tribunal which sat in Abuja. The Tribunal had ruled that president Buhari was Validly elected returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC
The spokesperson of CUPP, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, has alleged that the Presidency is pressurizing the Chief Justice of the Federation, CJN, Justice Tanko Muhamed, to jettison the age old custom of appointing Judges in order of seniority for such a serious political case like the Appeal by Abubakar. A celebrated case when a presidential appeal of this magnitude was entertained by the Supreme court was the Shagari versus Awolowo case, where there was an interpretation of the legal definition of two-thirds of 19, there being nineteen states of the federation at that time. The Supreme Court had allegedly followed the seniority rule.
The case went to the incumbent president, Shehu Shagari, at that time, with the Supreme Court ruling that no Lawyer should cite that judgment as precedence.
Other parties have, however, taken the Independent National Election Commission to the Supreme Court this time, besides Atiku.
But the Supreme Court, in its reaction, had frowned at the statement of the CUPP, describing its action as a case of “naming a baby before it is born”.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Festus Akande, described thestatement as “blatant falsehood”.
“In the light of the blatant falsehood, misinformation and malicious rumor being generously peddled by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) through its spokesman Imo Ugochinyere, we wish to state clearly that the association is not and can never constitute itself into an agency of the Nigerian Judiciary or assume the role of an alternate Supreme Court of Nigeria”, the statement said.
“We have been watching, rather cautiously, the drama of the absurd being exhibited on daily basis by this association, which sadly debases our collective morality and sense of decency as people from a civilized and well cultured society, like Nigeria.
“Sensitive issues, like the presidential election appeal, should not, in all honesty, be taken to the altar of frivolous drama and misguided oration that is displayed on the screen of our national television with reckless abandon by people who ought to be some sort of role model to the younger generation.
“It will be recalled that even weeks before the presidential election appeal was filed at the Supreme Court, the CUPP had already, in its characteristic manner, constituted its own ‘panel’ for the Supreme Court and aggressively brandished the list on television and newspapers.
“Shortly afterwards, when the appeal was eventually filed at the court, the coalition came out once again with another imaginary list of panel members and followed it with yet another malicious allegation against the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) of ‘handpicking’ them in contrast to the ‘tradition’ of selecting the most senior justices of the court.
“Let it be known that the Supreme Court is not an assemblage of individuals with no defined purpose, vision and modus operandi.
“Our operations are strictly guided by the Constitution and extant laws. We are not an appendage of any individual or group of people, and we don’t pander to the dictates of anybody or association.
“The Supreme Court, and by extension, the Judiciary, is an independent arm of government that can never be intimidated or dictated to by anybody.
“The CUPP’s action only amounts to naming a baby before it is born. We should be mindful of our utterances to avoid inflicting a devastating harm on the nation.
“This exhibition of unbridled utterances and prevarication will only endanger the progress and cohesiveness of our country.
“The Supreme Court has been entertaining presidential election appeals over the decades, but the unnecessary hysteria and superlative drama being woven around this particular one calls for caution and moderation.
“The constitution of any panel to sit on a matter in the court is the sole prerogative of the Supreme Court and it is never an issue for the court to debate on the television or pages of newspapers.
“We are not a political party or social club and should never be dragged into any form of baseless pedestrian discussions that will drive valid reasoning aground. Enough of this orchestrated falsehood and campaign of calumny.
“We are here to serve the interest of the generality of the Nigerian masses and not a select individuals or groups with inordinate ambition.
“As soon as the presidential appeal panel is constituted, the public will be duly informed as Supreme Court is not a secret society. Let us always observe caution when disseminating information to the public.”
