Might a new theatre of judicial contestation beyond Kano be opening in Nigeria, this time over the governorship of Enugu State? This question becomes inevitable following a distinction between judgement and justice by a set of lawyers in a statement available to Intervention. While that of Kano is the discrepancy between the judgement as written and the judgement as delivered, that of Enugu is the contention that the election petition tribunal and the Appeal Court which heard the petition delivered judgments but not justice. The civil society organisation by name Oriental Lawyers for Justice which is harping on the distinction is asking the Supreme Court now to deliver justice this time.
Hon Chjioke Edeoga of the Labour Party in the Enugu State Governorship contest March 2023
Defining what justice would look like in the statement, Barrister John Bosco Aninwene and Mrs Ifeoma Ejike, the president the publicity secretary of the Oriental Lawyers respectively said the mood of the people would be the marker. According to them, the mood across Enugu State each time the Enugu State Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal delivered judgments on the matter was one of mourning. They contrast that to Abia “where justice was upheld at every stage and hundreds of people spontaneously jumped into the streets in wild jubilation”
In other words, justice as far as the Oriental Lawyers are concerned is for the Supreme Court to transcend any technicalities or turn legalism upside down because the result of the governorship election could not be so different from that of the other elections in the state in which the Labour Party “won seven of the eight House of Representatives seats, won two of the Senate seats,… 86% of the presidential votes cast in the state,14 of the 24 House of Assembly seats which were held on the same day as the gubernatorial election”. Their conclusion is that “There is overwhelming evidence that the Labour Party won Enugu State in all the elections better than it won Abia”.
Gov Peter Mbah of the PDP whose election is being challenged
The Oriental Lawyers for Justice argue that the Supreme Court could deliver justice instead of judgement because it “is the final court in the land and the closest approximation of the divine symbol of justice, fairness and equity”. The lower courts could, in the argument of the platform of the lawyers, be excused on the ground that neither the Election Petitions Tribunal nor the Court of Appeal has the finality on the matter.
The lawyers deliver a hint of unacceptability of injustice on the basis of the concept of injustice they have articulated by adding that “an obvious miscarriage of justice was tolerated” in the previous “controversial judgements by the lower courts”. By implication, a miscarriage of justice would not be tolerated, a hint which connects Enugu to the cauldron unfolding in Kano.
The platform of lawyers is very categorical that Governor Peter Mbah who was declared by INEC did not win the governorship of Enugu State, pointing out how the over-voting in Owoh, the hometown of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, was the clear evidence.
It went further to specifically accuse the governor of forging his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate but allegedly bribing a high court in Abuja to declare that the NYSC has no right to dissociate itself from his forged NYSC certificate. On the basis of this, the platform says there is a drama around Governor Mbah, describing “the drama surrounding Mbah” as embarrassing. It demonstrates this by asserting that Governor Peter Mbah hardly steps out of the Government House “where he surrounds himself with an armada of fierce-looking security men surrounded by an awesome paraphernalia of violence for fear of an imminent attack by the ordinary people who have nothing but deep contempt for his moral integrity”.
Intervention is not aware of any response from Mbah or the PDP to the tough stance of the civil society platform yet. This platform will, within the context of balance and right of reply, carry such a response if one emerges.
With enamelling of an extra body headed by retired Justice Walter Onogen, former Chief Justice of the Federation, the expectation is that the judiciary will deliver justice in all pending cases and begin to calm nerves across the land. In that case, the distinction between judgement and justice as advanced by the Oriental Lawyers is a conceptual contribution that goes beyond Enugu governorship tussle in to the larger Nigerian society.
All eyes on the Supreme Court in respect of Enugu governorship petition if only because of the philosophical fascination around that distinction between judgement and justice in this case between Honourable Chijeoke Edoga of the Labour Party (LP) and Peter Mbah of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
