Facts, Law No Longer Form Basis Of Supreme Court Judgments In Nigeria — Olisa Agbakoba SAN

Senior advocate and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, has expressed doubts about the ability of the judiciary to dispense untainted justice as politicians and their parties resort to the courts to address the grievances arising from the just concluded general election.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television, Mr Agbakoba said recent decisions of the courts have not reflected what may be called reasonable adjudication of political matters.

“I’ve lost a bit of confidence in what the courts have been doing lately. There was a time you could say, on the facts and the law, this is the likely outcome. Today you cannot, because there’s been all kinds of silly decisions,” he said.

The senior lawyer referenced a shocking decision of the Supreme Court which affirmed Senate President Ahmed Lawan as the valid candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his senatorial district even though he did not contest the primaries, rather hijacked the candidacy from the winner of the primaries, Bashir Machina.

“That is the most ridiculous decision I’ve ever heard that the Supreme Court has delivered,” he said.

“I don’t have the sort of confidence that I use to have in the judiciary and I will not be surprised if this thing goes one way or the other. I cannot forecast the outcome,” he added.