A legal practitioner, Mr Emmanuel Sawyerr, on Wednesday in Abuja said the conflicting judgment that marred Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers, was a sign of political interference.
Sawyer told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the conflicting judgments by two Federal High Courts showed that the judiciary was under attack by political elements who wanted power by all means.
He said that it was high time Nigerians arose to defend the judicial system, stressing that if it was allowed to be ridiculed, there would be no essence of democracy in the first place.
“The judiciary is under attack by the antics of unscrupulous politicians; some people must not have power by all means.
“If you look at the root of this thing, it is a result of the overbearing attitude of the governors and failure of the political process.
“The governors want to control the political machinery; I am not holding brief for Ali Modu Sherriff, but may be because he failed to play to their plans, they went against him.
“Had it been that Ali Modu Sheriff was still with them, they would have allowed his tenure to run out, but now they are going against him.
“It was the governors that made Sheriff Chairman in the first place; that is wrong, the governors are not supposed to be controlling the machinery of the political process.
“They are supposed to be agents of the party but once they become governors, automatically, they overlord it on the party.
“This is the problem with our system and the people have to check this.
“ The people have a say in how the system is run; we have to say no to impunity and no to abuse of the court process,” he said.
On the conflicting judgments, the lawyer said that since the courts were of equal jurisdiction, the most recent judgment from any of the courts would supersede any previous ruling.
He, therefore, said that the ruling of the FCT High Court, being the most recent was to supersede that of the Port Harcourt.
He explained that the complainant in the case ought to have approached a higher court on the matter, and stated that it was wrong for the Port Harcourt to have entertained the matter in the first instance.
Sawyer said that the process that brought Sheriff into office as chairman of the party was legal and could only be nullified through a due process.
He added that situations in the past where chairmen of political parties were removed abruptly, was a flagrant abuse of due process which should not have been allowed.
“The tenure is not, however, binding on the party; the party can remove its chairman but through due process.
“It is only the national executive of the party that can carry out this process, not the governors; the governors are not part of the committee or part of the process.
“So, it is an abuse of the processes by the politicians, both the court process and the political process,” he said.
He said that the judiciary would have to put its house in order and expressed optimism that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference scheduled for Friday would address some of the issues.
Sawyer called on members of the Bar and the Bench to use the opportunity to reflect on the important role they played in a democracy to ensure good governance.
“In a democracy, it is only the court that is the last hope of the common man, and if the court is allowed to be bastardised by the politicians, that means there is no hope.
“We must ensure that the law is not used to arm-twist the process,” he said.
NAN reports that the National Convention of the PDP which was scheduled to hold today, amid court rulings for and against the convention was eventually botched. (NAN)
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