By Chibuzo Ukaibe, By Kunle Olasanmi Abuja
— Oct 20, 2015 4:20 am | Leave a comment
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has cautioned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to go beyond bounds in its political utterances by making allegations against the judiciary.
The CJN’s warning followed an alarm raised by the opposition party over what it termed the undue interferences by the Court of Appeal in the various cases before election petition tribunals and other judicial cases in the country.
“Somebody has to counsel Metuh to avoid treading where he has limited knowledge, because Judiciary is not where one makes allegations without proofs,” he said.
A statement issued yesterday by the party’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, had alleged that the appellate court had been meddling in court cases with a view to swaying them in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The PDP called on the Chief Justice of the Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed to guide jealously the independence of the judiciary.
Metuh had said the party wished to alert the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa of reports of undue interferences, emanating from her office, in the activities of various election petition tribunals and other judicial cases, ostensibly to sway them against the PDP and in favor of the APC.
He had said: “While we would not want to believe that the President of the Court of Appeal is so involved, given the sensitivity of her office, we wish to caution, in very strong terms, that such is completely unacceptable as it principally detracts from the sanctity of the judiciary as the citadel of justice and erode the trust reposed on it by the people,” he added.
Urging the appellate court to understand that an impartial judiciary was critical to the survival of the country’s democracy, PDP asked the CJN to guard jealously the independence of the judiciary which he heads, and ensure that any activity that tends to undermine the sanctity of this arm of government is stiffly resisted in the interest of democracy.
Apparently miffed by PDP’s weighty allegations, the CJN through his media aide, Ahuraka Isah, said the PDP and its spokesperson needed to be counseled that they must not tread where they have little or no knowledge about.
In a statement he issued yesterday, Ahuraka said the CJN would not have “ordinarily wished to join issues with people exercising their rights to freedom of speech, except the sensitive and sacred nature of the Judiciary in the society.”
He asserted that the integrity of the judiciary at the moment was non-negotiable, and noted that many members of the APC and the PDP had won and lost at the tribunals all over the country.
He wondered whether this should be interpreted to mean that “the president of the Court of Appeal has influenced the tribunal to also give judgements in favour of the PDP members that have won their cases.
“We all agree that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides for freedom of expression, but it cannot be exercised in isolation recklessly like loose cannon”.
In the statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday, Ahuraka further stated: “I make bold to state that the integrity of the Judiciary this time around is non-negotiable.
“Independent judiciary intrinsically means judges can make decisions irrespective of the political winds that are blowing. And we are indeed doing same at the election petition tribunal”.
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