A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olabode George, has warned that anarchy looms if Nigerians no longer trust the judiciary.
George gave the warning during a press conference in Lagos on Monday.
The PDP chieftain said it was worrisome that Nigerians no longer trust the judiciary.
He was responding to the controversy surrounding the verdict of the Court of Appeal on the Kano State governorship election.
The appellate court had nullified Governor Abba Yusuf’s election and declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Nasir Gawuna, the winner.
However, there was confusion when the Certified True Copy of the judgment later emerged and showed that the appeal court affirmed Yusuf’s election.
The appeal court later attributed the discrepancy to a clerical error. This apart, there had been a wide range of conflicting court decisions on the same subject. Besides, many Nigerians believe that both the appeal court and the supreme court did not serve justice in the presidential election petitions.
Sharing his opinion on the matter, George said, “This system is worrisome because if the people don’t believe in the third arm of government anymore, anarchy looms.
“The unholy alliances between some politicians and judges are dangerous to our democracy. Millions of people will come out on the day of the election, queue, collect ballot papers, and cast their votes for their preferred candidates, results will be announced, and everybody will jubilate only for three, five, or seven judges to upturn the popular will of the people.
“The best the judiciary must do in political cases is to adjudicate, and where there are discrepancies, order a rerun without giving victory to party A or B.
“It is wrong to remove the electorate’s power to elect political leaders and for the judiciary to tell us who the winners are. This is not good for Nigeria. This is not good for our electoral system. A compromised judiciary is dangerous.”
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