I was only three years old in October, 1960 when Nigeria gained her independence. There was no way I could understand what the noise and the boisterous celebration was all about, but something like hope was in the air on the 30th of September that year. Gunshots rang out throughout the night in my village. The brewers of Burukutu had a ball. Every family was preparing a major meal for the next day. School children had been practicing their marching drill for days. The day came and the village was agog with merriment and infectious joy. The pupils marched, the masquerades danced, we children ran after them, all the adults trooped to the Native Authority Primary School to listen to some speech. They eventually returned with everyone joyfully singing, “Today, today, we now own ourselves! Today, today, we now own ourselves! “ . Then the best part of it, we ate. We became independent. Sixty three years have passed and I am still wondering what it was we celebrated. The hope and excitement have evaporated and what we have left ourselves with is extraordinary disappointment and deep regrets for the shots Nigeria has fired again and again at her own legs.

The real test of democracy ought to be free, fair and credible elections, leading to peaceful transfer of power from one hand to another successfully without rancor. This is what Nigeria has determined not to achieve. Our first attempt in 1964 to conduct an election by ourselves turned the Western Region of Nigeria into the “Wild, Wild West”, through “Operation - wetie”. Hundreds were doused in gasoline and burned alive with their cars, houses and belongings. Our nascent democracy never survived that election. The raucous in the West and the misrule at the centre in Lagos produced the bloody coup of 15th January, 1966. The lopsided killings of the coup led to the counter coup of 29th July that year and the anti - Ibo pogroms in the North which in turn produced the Biafran Civil War of 1967-1970. Three million Nigerians were killed by the time the guns fell silent. We had no democratic election again until 1979. The results of the presidential aspect of that election was contested all the way to the Supreme Court which wrote a judgment itself said should not be cited as a precedent. Our differences were not settled. Politicians learned nothing. The next election in 1983 produced another coup on the last day of that year. Ten years later, the first and possibly the only credible election in Nigeria produced a result the military could not live with. They annulled it. There was no national election again until 1999. The contest on the results of that election again went all the way to the Supreme Court. Still the politicians learnt nothing. Since that one, all we have had in this country are nothing but shambolic elections, better called selections.

Every possible rule in the books have been broken, trashed and fragrantly trampled upon deliberately, consciously, knowingly and intentionally in every election. The pain of it is that politicians in Nigeria have never learned anything from our tragic history and thus have continued to subvert national interest in favour of personal and narrow sectional interests every election time. This attitude has made a baby of our nation at 63. Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi and Zambia have left ‘the giant’ of Africa far behind in the democracy race. They all have a lesson or two to teach us on how to conduct elections and resolve all disputes arising there from, before the winner is sworn-in. We have obstinately refused to learn and have made ourselves a laughingstock in the comity of nations.

The most brazen and egregious self-abnegation committed by our nation through INEC’s coltishness was this very last presidential election in February 2023 and the fallouts of the same are staring us all in the face. No credible foreign or local observer spoke a positive word on its performance in that election. In an earlier piece titled, “INEC’S SHENANIGANS: THE BANE OF THE NATION”, I expressed my opinion on INEC’s undoing of our electoral process and it is not productive to reproduce the same here again.

The fallouts of that election currently making the rounds are the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal delivered on the 6th of September, 2023, the appeal of the losing sides to the Supreme Court, the ongoing further efforts by Alh. Atiku Abubakar to prove the lack of authenticity of the certificate from Chicago State University which Tinubu tendered before INEC and what all these are doing and will do to the national ego of Nigeria for years to come. The judgment of the Tribunal has elicited different reactions from different commentators. What I have not seen is popular rejoicing or acceptance of that pronouncement. It was Lord Hewart who reminded Judges in the Sussex Justices case (1924)1 K.B.256, 259) that “it is of fundamental importance that Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”. Seen by whom? The Judges? No. Certainly by the common reasonable man in the street. Judges are not at total liberty to trash public opinion as was urged upon them in Nigeria just last week at the swearing in of the new Federal High Court judges. It is not only the five Justices of the Court of Appeal who read English and Law and have the capacity to understand the nuances of constitutional or statutory provisions. Any Nigerian of average capacity can clearly discern the language and intent of the law in any piece of legislation. Any attribution of exclusive knowledge to only a few so that their personal opinions supersede that of 200 million citizens is nothing short of judicial arrogance. History will never forgive. Laws are enacted to solve specific problems and citizens of Nigeria should have reasonable expectations that electoral problems should be solved through.

It is clear to me that the common man and his aspirations have once again been sacrificed on the altar of injustice which seems to be the natural bent of Nigeria and its judiciary. Please permit me to reproduce a portion of Godwin Tsa’s opinion in “The Sun” of 14th September, 2023 with which I totally agree where he said:

“ The question the PEPT’s judgment raises, is whether Nigeria’s electoral jurisprudence should keep its focus on the merits and substance of electoral complaints, or turn on the outcome of a blistering and exacting scrutiny of whether electoral complaints adhered to all requirements of all legal rules. Without a well-reasoned philosophy of electoral jurisprudence, Nigerian courts are returning outcomes that are difficult to reconcile with our national aspirations for much better electoral systems.

“ Given the PEPT’s narrow focus it drew blank on, and missed important contexts which ought to have played a major part in informing the resolution of the petitions, it did not take into account, Nigeria’s chequered history of badly run elections, vote manipulations, and fraudulently contrived results; it did not factor in the long struggles to reform Nigeria’s electoral process, and the reforms introduced to reduce electoral fraud/ malpractice and how BVAS and IREV played into that strategy. It also failed to acknowledge the importance of transparent elections, and maintaining the integrity of votes cast at elections; it did not consider how the introduction of technology (such as BVAS and IREV), was geared towards improving electoral transparency and increasing public confidence in election outcomes. Instead, the PEPT treated the IT reforms to remedy past electoral malpractices as though they had no electoral value or purpose of their own, reducing them to sterile, discretionary third-wheel additions to the electoral process.”

May I ask, are the judges who wrote this judgment Nigerians or not? From their days as secondary school students till now, did they hear that INEC ever conducted credible elections? Have they not themselves prayed at some point to see credible, free and fair elections in Nigeria? Do they not know that every seat contested for in every election in Nigeria ends up before electoral tribunals because of vote rigging, violence, vote buying, suppression of votes and every form of malpractices? Is that how other democratic jurisdictions in the world leave election results routinely to the opinions of five or seven citizens on the bench, however well endowed? Is this how things should be in Nigeria forever? If INEC does a credible and transparent job, will every electoral contest end up in court? Have Nigerians not been clamoring for credible elections forever? Is that not the reason these technologies were introduced to help INEC produce more credible and acceptable results? If contestants see that the process is credible will they inundate our courts system with so many cases that cannot all be decided until an unelected candidate completes his term of office? Is it not because of INEC’s perennial incompetence that other non-electoral cases are routinely suspended in our courts to allow electoral cases to be given priority, thereby denying justice to the generality of litigants sometimes for decades? Is it not because of all these that the Electoral Act of 2022 was passed to help give credibility to the electoral process in Nigeria? Did not this last presidential election give Nigeria an opportunity to solve a problem that has bedeviled its democratic process since 1964? We passed a law to solve a debilitating problem and the interpreters of the law saw in their convoluted wisdom that the reforms are not necessarily part of the election process? Nigeria, the headquarters of poverty in the world spent N355,000,000,000:00 to buy these BVAS machines and set up the IREV network and our own judges think the expenditure has nothing to do with the election process? The INEC Chairman himself promised the nation again and again on public television networks that election results will be uploaded real time from the polling units and our judges said the evidence that he said so was not filed on time and threw it out just like that? Should Nigeria be this crass and lowbred forever? If Court of Appeal judges cannot tell INEC, “you failed in your duty,” who will? Is it so that the greatest black nation on earth cannot conduct free and fair elections perpetually? We are irredeemable? Is it alright for our legislature to pass a law to solve a problem and the judiciary shoots it down mindlessly while the whole world is watching? Have our judges not made this nation and themselves a laughing stock of the world? So, the black man has no sense to discern what accords to international best practices in the 21st century and key into it? Nigeria should be a baby forever? Is it okay for our judges to be denied traveling visas and humiliated before the world because they refuse to adopt the correct and acceptable attitude to deciding cases, particularly election cases? Is the law no longer an instrument of social change but a clog in the wheel of development in the hand of judges? We have no capacity to do what is right? India with a population of 1.4 billion competently conducts free and fair elections regularly but Nigeria cannot manage one credible election among its 200 million and we are not ashamed? Our judges think it is proper that Nigeria’s corporate existence should continually hang in the balance every four years because of the fear of electoral malpractices and their consequences? In all honesty, has this judgment advanced Nigeria or set it back a few more decades? Whose interest therefore has it served? (I invite Nigerians to watch who ends up in the Supreme Court now as new appointments are about to be made into it.) Jehovah said, “Appoint Judges and administrative officials for all the cities the Lord your God is giving you. They will administer Justice in every part of the land. Never twist Justice to benefit a rich man, never accept bribes. For bribes blind the eyes of the wisest and corrupt their decisions. Justice must prevail. This is the only way you will be successful in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”(Deut.16:18-20). There is only one way to find out if a righteous person has attained power; the rejoicing of the people. Solomon said, “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Who is rejoicing in Nigeria now?

The cases are now on appeal to the Supreme Court and we cannot comment on their outcome yet. We can only hope for new Kayode Eshos and Chukwudifu Oputas to rise to the occasion. In the annals of the Nigerian judiciary, these are the prominent jurists among a few others who lived by the tenet, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold”. They died poor but their names are remembered today with great fondness.

As we speak, another soap opera involving Mr Tinubu is further dragging the name and reputation of Nigeria in the mud on a huge scale internationally. The allegations are many. Fake certificate, fake admission, fake identity, fake name and a drug dealing past. The person occupying the office of President in Nigeria today presented a forged university diploma to INEC. It’s no longer an allegation. The University disowned the certificate he presented to INEC. This matter is not new. The late legal luminary, Gani Fawehinmi raised this issue more than 24 years ago that this man did not obtain a genuine university diploma from Chicago State University. As is our way, the matter was swept under the carpet because he was a state governor and had immunity. In 2022 again a lawyer, Mr. Enahoro - Etah filed a suit against Tinubu in a Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking a declaration that the certificate Tinubu had submitted to INEC was a fake or a forged diploma. The case could not proceed because no judge of that court would accept the case file. The case was thus truncated. But now, Atiku Abubakar has approached a court in America (where the law rules) seeking similar orders and despite Tinubu’s valiant opposition, the documents sought have been ordered released. The University disowned the certificate. The documents seem to clearly show that Mr. Tinubu registered in the school as a female. There is a fowl stench coming out and all of us Nigerians will suffer the consequences of the electoral scam we have allowed. This matter was raised before the tribunal. It struck out the allegation because the Registrar of CSU in Chicago was not summoned to come and tender the certificate though certified true copies were produced before it because the law permits certified copies of public documents to be tendered even from the bar. Suddenly, in 2023 that is no more the law in Nigeria. Now, Mr. Tinubu’s hidden secrets are being revealed before the audience of the whole world. The FBI is soon going to release 500 pages per month of extremely damaging information about Mr. Tinubu for several months to come. This is going to utterly destroy whatever remains of Nigeria’s reputation before the international audience. How much mileage is Nigeria going to get out of all this except the scorn of the world for our perpetual penchant for handing the reins of power to the most unqualified and shameless political demagogues in our polity. Very soon the Nigerian passport would not be worth the paper on which it is printed because the world would see it as a forged document because Mr. Tinubu forged his own certificate and our courts found the most disingenuous reasons not to disqualify him from holding office. Soon, no document emanating from Nigeria will have any authenticity. What we have sown we will all soon reap. As it is, we have sown to our flesh. We shall all definitely reap the corruption.

Another worse allegation about which Mr. Tinubu has kept tight lips overtime is that he was a drug dealer who forfeited $460,000:00 to the US government by way of settlement to avoid going to prison. The tribunal said it was a civil case. Is there any nation in the world that treats drug trafficking as a civil case? Many of us Nigerians have been humiliated and extraordinarily searched for drugs at various international airports (including me). Foreign customs and immigration officers have before now suspected every Nigerian as a criminal, now a worse fate awaits our traveling citizens. They have been looking for water with which to fry us, Mr. Tinubu has handed them oil. The chickens have indeed come to roost. We have indeed sown to the wind and a whirlwind is what we will reap and the unintended innocent citizens whose votes were just manipulated will remain the victims of this debacle.

The $1 fetched N570 in May, now it is above N1000. The N30,000 minimum wage is not enough to transport a worker from Nyanya to town in a month. Instead of buying buses to ameliorate the transportation headache, N500 billion palliative was distributed to governors to share to their citizens but N35 billion of that amount was given to the Supreme Court first. Does anyone reading this know one person who received any palliative? What can N5000 in an envelope and 10 kg bag of rice do to pull a family out of poverty? Do we think? Are we truly this daft? What if that money had been spent buying buses (as noted)to be distributed to all states to reduce transportation cost for everyone, wouldn’t the populace enjoy those buses for at least five years while an honest government seeks a permanent solution? What do you think happened to the N500,000,000,000:00 palliative honestly?

There is God. Let no false usurper think he will escape the judgment of God. Many Christians seem to have lost confidence in Him. There was a Pharaoh once who said, “Who is the Lord?” He drowned in the Red Sea. There was a Sennacherib who wrote a letter to insult the Lord, he lost 185,000 soldiers in one night only to return home in shame to be murdered by his own sons. There was once a wicked Nebuchadnezzar, God turned him into an animal. He learned his lesson. There was once a vengeful Haman who made a gallows to hang Mordecai. Himself was the one who hung on it. There was once a Herod who murdered James Zebedee, then, he arrested Peter, to slaughter the following day. The Ancient of Days intervened. Peter was saved. In a few days, worms ate up Herod. Our Hightower is still on His throne. He will not abandon us, though it seems evil is prevailing. Let us never lose hope in Him. That will be the worst fallout.

Isaac Okpanachi

By:Isaac Okpanachi