₦airaland Forum

SLAP44:
What Ojukwu sat down and saw in 1966 is what some people are still climbing the skyscrapers at Broad Street to look for?

The one that pained me pass, was seeing an erudite professor at Law, a SAN and a respected pastor standing behind a person with zero educational value in a national election. It broke a lot of hearts. I started doubting the smartness they attribute to SW.

Even small Nnamdi Kanu saw this since 2013 and started screaming it, when we are sure you guys are serious and not a threat to get appeased with 2023 presidency, we will come out and support you.

backnbeta:
come out clean! All the story didn't point to any direction...we still don't know where you stand on Amotekeun sir

sydneyboss:
Fight your battle, y'all supported the north and removed Jonathan, leave SS and SE out
.. enjoy the [i][/i]evil clutches of the north

maynattion:
People are mourning the death of chelshit.

Take heart guys.

But what were you all expecting before? A miracle? How would chelsea ever think of beating Newcastle ??

igbokwesampson:
http://vanguardngr.com/

http:///2c295545200118en_ng



It is no longer news that in line with last week’s decision of the Supreme Court, Senator Hope Uzodinma is now the Imo State governor.

Having decided that the exclusion of certain votes in his favour during the collation of votes at the last governorship election in the state was illegal, the Apex Court went ahead to add the said votes which saw to the victory of the new governor.

Uzodinma was promptly sworn in. His immediate predecessor, Emeka Ihedioha who had earlier been declared as the duly elected governor by the electoral body had to step down.

Before doing so, Ihedioha did not forget to make the point that although he did not agree with what he described as an unfair and unjust ruling, he had “no option but to respect the outcome of the judgment.” A cursory look at various media platforms shows that Ihedioha’s viewpoint is generally shared by a cross section of Nigerians.

Bearing in mind that the ruling was made by the nation’s highest judicial authority – the Supreme Court, everyone appears to believe that there is really nothing left for Ihedioha to rely upon for some hope. There are grounds for this position, the most prominent is that the Supreme Court is the last court of the land; meaning that after it, no other court is available to a party for further action. In other words, the situation is not like what happens in the lower courts when a party can proceed on appeal to a higher court where he is dissatisfied with a judgment.

Again, there is the understanding that in order to avoid a situation where a case may never end, the same court is not expected to review its rulings after delivering its judgment. Put differently, a Court cannot sit as an appellate Court over its decision. It is this idea, that a Court has no business returning to a case it has already concluded that makes many people think the end of Ihedioha’s case has come.

For this reason, some analysts have condemned the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Supreme Court to reverse itself in the Imo case. The only thing in our view that is wrong with the position of the PDP is the intemperate diction employed at the press conference where the call was made. Otherwise, the rule that a court cannot reverse itself is not absolute. To revisit a case already settled has happened many times before.

Almost 50 years ago, we had the case of Johnson v Lawanson (1971) 7 NSCC 82 where the Supreme Court found cause to overrule itself. In that case, Justice G.B.A Coker of the Apex Court made the point that “when the court is faced with the alternative of perpetuating what it is satisfied is an erroneous decision which was reached per incuriam and will, if followed, inflict hardship and injustice upon the generations in the future or of causing temporary disturbances of rights acquired under such a decision, I do not think we shall hesitate to declare the law as we find it.”

What the above implies is that the convention that Courts do not reverse themselves has exceptions; one of which is that a party is allowed to seek a revisit of a decided case if the decision was arrived at by fraud or deceit or in earnest, when there are clerical errors in the judgment. From the little that has been made public about the Imo judgment, it is obvious that the election has been accorded more votes than the number of voters accredited to vote – an anomaly that is made more visible by the current arrangement in which accreditation and voting are merged. However, the number of votes scored in an election can be lower than the number accredited where some ballots are found to be invalid.
The decision of the Supreme Court in the Imo governorship case that the exclusion of certain votes was illegal because it was done by unauthorized officials cannot be faulted; it is in actual fact a point to be saluted if we must put an end to our history of rancorous elections. But if the addition of the controversial votes creates mathematical errors as we now have, the court ought to correct such clerical error, accidental slip or omission.

That is probably what any person would regard as the ordinary meaning of Order 8 Rule 16 of the Supreme Court Rules which creates an exception to the rule that a court cannot revisit its own ruling. Thus, nothing in our view stops Emeka Ihedioha from pointing out the apparent error occasioned by the addition of the voting figures approved by the court. All he needs to do is to present an application to the court for the correction of the error in computing the votes and not to seek an appeal. In other words, Ihedioha must not go to Court to seek a reversal of his case as Andy Uba was wrongly persuaded to do in the Anambra governorship election in 2007. Ihedioha should stop at correcting errors.

In truth, if the Supreme Court had averted her mind to the absurdity of the figures we are now seeing, she would have seen with relative ease, some wisdom in the earlier rejection by the electoral body of obviously concocted figures which Nigerian politicians are expert of. She would have realized that allowing the figures would do incalculable damage to our electoral and democratic system.

This is why we call on the Supreme Court to, on its own, without the prompting of a party correct the obvious error which would not derogate from its credibility because although the court is final, its members are not infallible; they are human. This is our own understanding of what the late legend, Chukwudifu Oputa meant when he said many years back while referring to those of them in the Supreme Court that “we are final not because we are infallible, rather we are infallible because we are final.”

What would make the finality of our Apex Court to be greatly cherished is where the Court is not only fair and just but where it also adopts an approach which allows errors to be corrected. If the truth must be told, such respect for the Court or what may be better described as public perception of our Supreme Court at this point in time is rather low.

One way of reversing the trend is for the Court to embrace substantial rather than technical justice as its priority and to revisit a case whose judgment is laced with errors. Otherwise, a judgment that no one would comfortably follow in future would be a great attack on the doctrine of judicial precedent. The judgment in the Imo governorship case, which has approved more votes than voters has all the potentials of serving as a bad case. It should be promptly corrected.

Babalegba:
The man is actually right: you cannot have a name for what you don't know exists, that is why Yorubas have no name for the polar bear and the Andromeda Galaxy. Yorubas are aware of the lion,the leopard and the cheetah and named them kiniun,ekun and amotekun respectively.also amo in yoruba could mean two things possessing knowledge or similar to.

Demzlent:
You are wrong mister,how could olden days Yorubas have a name for something they never know,ogidan is oriki for ekun
Ekun is respected not for its size but for its boldness and courage. I will even try and get the oriki ekun and post it here, you will see that it refers to leopard seeing its description

Ekun - leopard
Amotekun - cheetah
Owawa - lynx

'Amo' in the amotekun does not mean 'know' it means 'almost like'
So the name translates 'almost like leopard'. Which could be rendered leopard look alike

Mypeople2:
That is very bad .OP you will need a lawyer if you want to succeed in this case.When the lawyer threatens the maid, she will confess

olaric:
Goes to show that this government is disjointed and don't exchange information. How on earth is Malami not in the know, and yet instead of asking still came out publicly to exhibit his ignorance and foolishness?

Blue3k2:
I dont think his argument holds water. The supreme court could rule all these state security agencies are illegal. The sec 214 (1) of the constitution says no other police force can be established. The question is what defines a police force. I think item 68 of exclusive list would give the FG the win in court.

It's not like federal government enforces all the laws it has under its exclusive list like the minimum wage. When states pay dont pay workers the minimum wage who goes to jail or gets fined?

These constitution should just be amended. It seem a majority of states want decentralized policing. It's just as dumb to centralize prisons and fire arms in hands of federal government.

Constitution exclusive list:

2. Arms, ammunition and explosives. 
45. Police and other government security services established by law. 
48. Prisons
68. Any matter incidental or supplementary to any matter mentioned elsewhere in this list.

Section 214. (1) There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.

slimfit1:
Osho can not spot a fake smile shocking to see Rochas exhibit one.

LUGBE:
Abrakatabra, the more you look, the less you see is happening in our Judiciary today.

I will study this judgement with that of Osun state

IamPatriotic:
Father Mbaka market don sell

b3llo:
An experienced elder stateman is talking and a common lizard like you is challenging and intelligent advice. Your post is full of sentiment and senselessness... am sure Ur life depends on minimum wage increment. Do you think running a security unit is cheap Nobody here agrees with your long and empty post.