THE LAW

There has to be an explanation for why the Judiciary – the last bastion of justice and democracy, our important adjudicating arm of government – has lost its respect and powers. Heavily brutalized and subjugated during the military era, one would have thought that with the advent of democracy, our bar and bench would step up and ensure that the sanctity of the law, the court room and its rulings would get optimum protection in order to protect our nascent democracy. They should instruct our police force to be teachers and guide us on our path, building form and structure according to laid down procedure and precedent in order to preserve natural justice.

The additional responsibilities and expectations that come with civil rule are very heavy, the Judiciary should by now have regained control of its own house and discharge its duties with commanded respect. Sadly, it is turning out more and more glaringly that our courts are battling with a crisis of confidence. Their self-image is very poor and our laws as a result are flouted with impunity. When we the laymen hear that there has been a court ruling and it is openly disobeyed by the offending party without consequences, then it shakes the very foundation on which we stand and creates an air of insecurity in the land.

It is even more frightening that it is our lawmakers in this dispensation that have flouted more court orders and judgments than at any other time of our nationhood. With each judicial pronunciation openly and obnoxiously ignored, the self-worth of the Judiciary further deteriorates, allowing for even more damning contraventions of the law. It does not make sense nor allow for order when we consider the culprits of this disturbing trend are the two other arms of government – the legislature and the executive. They have ensured that the Judiciary remains lame and inept and have put the security forces on a leash which they control and is used willy-nilly as a tool of oppression. We have no balance.

This trend has become institutionalized. It grows by feeding and profiting from a weak citizenry who cower in fear or watch in disbelief the actions, whims and caprices of our “defenders and protectors.” It is a far cry from our culture and our traditions and a growing cancer inherited from the interruption that was the dictatorial military rule we experienced here. Illegality profits from a weak judicial system, we must with dispatch elevate our judiciary to its constitutional position as the arbiter and custodian of our statute.

Penultimate week, 10 candidates of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) from Katsina State were ruled rightful owners of a ‘stolen’ mandate as lawmakers representing their constituencies by a court of competent jurisdiction. They were however denied access to the National Assembly by their fellow lawmakers. The recurring irony of lawmakers breaking the law should not be lost on the rest of us. The PDP circumvented a judicial pronouncement by suspending the very next day, a member whom the court had asked them to reinstate for being wrongfully removed. The party and its government, by this act, is dangerously maintaining the status quo and making an ass of the law, which they have promised to protect.

We have a job to do. The foundation for a better Nigeria has to be laid starting from now. How do we do it? We need to stop considering ourselves as powerless inhabitants of the ‘Niger Area’. We cannot despair. We need to make our voices heard by creating social movements whose voices will be louder than our individual voices. We must come together. We need to insist on justice and accept rulings even when we feel that the law has been an ass and not stop there but put our energies into appealing any offensive decisions by “lawfully” seeking redress at the courts and effecting change that will better protect us. We need to speed up the delivery of this justice, as justice delayed is justice denied, and we must defend our laws and the spirit of them, as allowing anything or anybody to soil the sanctity of our agreement is nothing less than an infringement of our rights and a breach of the contract which binds us together.