In my article titled ‘The Heroism of Bashir Machina’ dated 26th July 2022 during the heat of the legal fireworks in the tussle between Bashir Machina and senate President Ahmad Lawan, i expressed confidence that Bashir Machina will win the fight for the Yobe North APC ticket. Despite being confident, I was subtly sceptical of the final outcome of the battle. I knew ‘anything could happen. My scepticism stemmed from the unreliability of Nigeria’s weak and highly partisan judiciary. Even by its standards, the Suprebe court’s verdict in Lawan V Machina is an incomprehensible one.
The verdict which gave victory to Ahmad Lawan is condemnable, daylight robbery, a rape of Nigeria’s hard earned democracy and an utter display of judicial recklessness. It was a dark day for Nigeria’s justice system and a day of mourning for democracy when the Supreme Court pronounced Ahmad Lawan who never completed nor submitted any nomination forms as the APC candidate for Yobe North. Even the Supreme Court verdict delivered on 14th January 2020 which pronounced Sen Hope Uzodiinma as the Governor of Imo state after coming a distant 4th place in the election, is not as obnoxious as the verdict on Lawan V Machina. Lawal V Machina is at best, a political judgement that will weaken Nigeria’s fragile democracy. Indeed. The Supreme Court is on a mission to destroy what is left of Nigeria’s democracy.
Senator Ahmad Lawan knew he doesn’t deserve victory hence when the appeal court affirmed Bashir Machina as the APC candidate for Yobe North on 28 November 2022, he (Ahmad Lawan) threw in the towel. He said he accepts the verdict of the appeal court in good faith. Alas, anti-democratic forces working in cahoots with the some ‘judicial uptakers’ had other ideas. These forces of darkness worked tirelessly and eventually made sure that the people’s will is subverted and Ahmad Lawan is declared the APC flag bearer for Yobe North when he hasn’t even completed nor submitted a nomination form.
TECHNICALITIES EMPLOYED BY THE SUPREME COURT TO SUBVERT THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE: WRIT OF SUMMONS OR ORIGINATING SUMMONS?
The Supreme Court in a very clear ‘political judgement’ and judicial summersault that run counter to legal jurisprudence, placed procedure over and above substance to cover up the case and declare Lawan the APC candidate for Yobe North. The lead Justice Chima Centus Nweze in delivering the so-called ‘majority decision’ stated that Machina should have used writ of summons instead of originating summons to commence his case at the federal high court. The question here arises ‘Is Machina’s application a contentious issue or a non-contentious one? This question is imperative and it’s answer paramount in getting to the root of this case. Clearly, a writ of summons can be applied when a matter before a court is contentious i.e that the background to the matter is in dispute. It is non-contentious when the background to the matter is not in dispute.
Obviuously, the following sequence of events leading up to the filing of Machina’s application at the trial court are not in dispute:
- It is not in contention that Ahmad Lawan never completed a nomination form for the APC Yobe North senatorial election.
- It is not in contention that Ahmad Lawan never participated in the May 28 APC primary election which was duly supervised by INEC.
- is not in contention that Ahmad Lawan wrote a letter of withdrawal from the Yobe North primary election to the APC to enable him (Lawan) contest the APC Presidential primary election which he lost
- It is not in contention that Ahmad Lawan had accepted defeat after the appeal court declared victory for Machina. Knowing full well that he has no grounds.
- It is not in dispute that the APC didn’t cancel the May 28th primary election which returned Machina before conducting a kangaroo primary election as an ‘after-thought’ which purportedly declared Lawan as the winner. It should be noted that this primary election on June 9 was arranged by the APC after Lawan lost the Presidential primary election and was never supervised by INEC.
- It is indisputable that Machina had completed the valid APC nomination form for Yobe North senatorial election
- It is not in contention that Bashir Machina had contested and won the May 28th APC primary election for Yobe North and was duly issued his certificate of return by the APC election committee
- Machina had satisfied all requirements and was duly screened by the APC screening committee
- The independent national election committee (INEC) had supervised the May 28th primary election which returned Machina.
- Ahmad Lawan’s re-entry into the race for Yobe North senatorial ticket is an after-thought after licking his wounds having lost the APC Presidential primary election to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
- The action of the APC to submit the name of Lawan in place of Machina was an after-thought and cannot stand in law because INEC had already published Machina name as the valid APC candidate for Yobe North.
- Dummimisation of candidates is not recognised by the electoral act 2010 (as amended) so Machina couldn’t have been a dummy for Lawan.
THE MEAT AND SUBSTANCE OF THE CASE:
The Supreme Court erred in law to declare a person who never completed a nomination form, the winner of that election.
Clearly, the Supreme Court should have upheld the verdict of the court of appeal that declared Machina as the authentic candidate of the APC.
While the appellate court considered the substance of the case, the Supreme Court considered the so-called ‘procedure’ to arrive at its verdict.
It should be stated here that the minority decision by learned justices Adamu Jauro and Emmanuel Agim clearly considered the substance of the case to uphold the verdict of the appellate court. Their legally tenable verdict nonetheless was dwarfed by the fallacious, incomprehensible and flawed so-called ‘majority decision’ read by Justices Chima Centus Nweze.
Albeit the substance of the case is highlighted in points 1-12 above, the summary of it all is that Lawan cannot be candidate when he never completed a nomination form and only participated in a hurriedly arranged kangaroo election on June 9 as an after-thought which the electoral body INEC neither supervised nor recognised.
The APC erred in law by substituting the name of Machina with that of Lawan in its letter to INEC. Without doubt, the APC chair Abdullahi Adamu was trying to protect his friend and Oga at the senate hence his insistence that Lawan must fly the flag of the APC for Yobe North. They know full well that they cannot control Machina the way they will, Lawan.
A SERIES OF CONTROVERSIAL JUDGEMENTS BY NIGERIA’S SUPREME COURT.
The Supreme Court has had several controversial judgements. Such political judgements and judicial incomprehensibilities courtesy our hitherto revered Supreme Court are as follows:
- The Imo APC primary election verdict in which the Supreme Court ruled that Mr Hope Uzodinma who came a distant FOURTH POSITION in the election is the winner and Governor of Imo state.
- In the run-up to the 2019 General election, the Supreme Court ruled that APC has no candidates at all levels in Rivers state during the 2019 General election due to ‘factions’ within the party.
- In October 2007, the Supreme Court sacked Celestine Omehia and declared Rotimi Amaechi, who never participated in the gubernatorial election, the governor of Rivers state.
THE SUPREME COURT SHOULD REVERSE ITSELF IN LAWAN V MACHINA.
The major difference between the truth and a lie is that the latter cannot stand the test of time unlike the former. The Lawan V Machina judgement will hunt the Supreme Court forever.
It is never too late though, the Supreme Court can rely on Order 8 Rules 16 of its own rules to reverse itself and restore some of its hard earned reputation.
The rule is clear, explicit and unambiguous that the apex court could set aside its decision in certain circumstances, like any other court.
In the unlikely event that the supreme court reverses itself, it will not be the first time it has done so: On 29th January 2020, the Supreme Court admitted that it erred when it reversed its judgement in an appeal by GTBank against a N2.4 billion judgement given in favour of Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited by the Court of Appeal in Ibadan.
CONCLUSION
The Supreme Court is fired up in its resolve to destroy Nigeria’s democracy. Today, Machina is the victim. Who knows who’s next?
All hands must be on deck to ensure that Nigeria’s nascent democracy survives.
There is nothing Supreme in a court. Only the Almighty Allah is Supreme.
The Supreme Court should rest assured that the agents of change in Nigeria will not good our arms and watch them destroy our democracy. The agents of change must continue to fight and ensure that justice prevails.
While Nigeria’s weak judiciary continues to flip-frog on election cases, no bandit/terrorists/secessionists have been convicted even as endless killings continue unabated in Nigeria.
The agents of change must continue to keep the defenders of the status quo on their toes to prevent a full take over by the retrogressives and an eventual collapse of the society.
