Four senior advocates of Nigeria (SANs) – John Baiyeshea, Akinlolu Kehinde, Tunde Falola and Joseph Nwobike – noted that since the Constitution makes the Court of Appeal the last stage in legislative election litigation, the legislators sacked by the Court of Appeal can no longer be restored despite the Supreme Court’s decision.
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Baiyeshea, who expressed disappointment at how the Court of Appeal handled the legislators’ petitions, said it was sad that the appellate court chose to replace elected representatives with selected ones.
Kehinde said what the Court of Appeal Justices did amounted to judicial rascality, while Falola urged the affected legislators not to take the law into their hands but to await the next election circle.
The SANs suggested an amendment to the Constitution and other relevant laws to allow National Assembly election cases terminate at the Supreme Court.
Baiyeshea said: “The Judgment of the Court of Appeal in respect of National Assembly members removed in Plateau State is quite unfortunate.
“This is one of the ugly scenarios in our Nigerian system and one of the irreversible errors in our legal/administration of justice.
“It is obvious now that with the judgment of the Supreme Court on Friday affirming the election of the Governor of that state (who was removed by the Court of Appeal for the same reasons that the National Assembly members were removed), the Court of Appeal’s judgment is a complete travesty of justice to those National Assembly members.
“The governor was lucky that, by our present laws, appeal in governorship matters terminates at the Supreme Court, so he had his case reviewed by the Justices of that court.
“Happily the unjust judgment of the Court of Appeal against him was set aside.
But in the case of the National Assembly members, appeal terminates at the Court of Appeal, so the injustice to them is permanent and irreversible.
“There is no remedy for them now for this monumental travesty of justice to them.
“Our legal system should not, at our present state of development, present citizens with such helpless situation where there is no remedy for such a brutal wrong done to its citizens.
“This is why those who have the privilege of presiding over the affairs of others to determine their fate should be very careful not to abuse such privilege.
“It is quite sad that before our very eyes, the representatives the people of Plateau State, voted for, have been replaced by those ‘selected’ by the Court of Appeal.
“Democracy has been obliterated, bastardised and the people shortchanged. That’s the tragedy of a nation like Nigeria that never gets anything right.
“I hope the National Assembly and other stakeholders in law making will do something to amend the Constitution and other laws to remedy this anomaly against the future because we cannot and must not continue like this,” Baiyeshea said.
Kehinde said in other climes the Justices involved would have been penalised for deliberately ignoring earlier decisions of the Supreme Court on the issues raised in the Plateau cases.
He said it was only an aspirant that participated in the party’s primary that could challenge the outcome and urged lawyers, particularly Senior Advocates, to realise that it is not every case that must be taken to court.
“We have to be sincere to our clients and tell them the whole truth that a particular case will not fly,” he said, adding that lawyers should avoid cases that could ridicule them and subject the whole system of justice to disrepute.
Kehinde added: “I will also encourage, especially the intermediate court – the Court of Appeal – that it has no choice, once a position has been laid down by the Supreme Court, it is judicial rascality to depart from it.
“This was what happened, with respect, in some of these states like Plateau, Kano and a number of other states.
“This was what they did, with respect, I am not castigating the whole bench of the Court of Appeal, but those involved got themselves involved in judicial rascality.
“What is good is good, and what is bad is bad. What they did has no basis in law.
The Supreme Court has condemned it. I am not the one condemning it.
“And, let them also have a rethink that they owe it to this country to ensure the survival of this democracy. This is a responsibility that we all owe to this country.”
On his part, Falola noted that by the provisions of Section 246(1) of the Constitution, the Court of Appeal currently exercises the final jurisdiction on the decision of the election tribunal in respect of all legislative elections cases be it National Assembly or State Houses of Assembly.
He added: “What that means is that once a candidate, who participates in Senatorial, House of Representatives or State House of Assembly elections and loses the election, he petitions the election tribunal.
“And, when he loses the petition, his final destination, in terms of appealing against the tribunal’s decisions, ends at the Court of Appeal, being the final court.
“At that juncture, the only option open to him is to abide by the outcome of the decision of the court of Appeal.
“If he loses the appeal, there is really nothing he can do than to wait for another election period as no further right of appeal exists.
“To address the several complaints against the decisions of the Court of Appeal in respect of the appeals in legislative matters in Plateau State, the option open to our legislature is to amend the Constitution and make the Supreme Court final court in appeals in legislative matters.
“Doing so will give the Supreme Court the opportunity to address the perceived perverseness of most of the decisions of the appellate court in deserving cases.”
In his own contribution Nwobike said: “I think that it must be recognized that the Court of Appeal is the final court for the determination of that level of electoral disputes in Nigeria.
“There are no clear legal or constitutional bases for them to seek for judicial review of those judgements in any manner that will not create a bad precedent in our jurisprudence.
“However, it is left for the lawyers to the persons affected to deeply consider the issues and the extent to which the equitable rule of ibi jus ibi remedium can be of any material help.
“Recall also that similar applications that were made to the Supreme Court recently were met with heavy costs against the counsel who filed the application on behalf of the parties.
“I will therefore advise that the matter should be treated as closed so as not to create confusion in the electoral jurisprudence with respect to the finality granted to the Court of Appeal by the Constitution.”
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