A “technically” incompetent Chief Justice of Nigeria » Notes from Atlanta with Farooq Kperogi » Tribune Online
tribuneonlineng.com Jul 20, 2019 3:36 AM
Buhari, Fulanisation
A trending video clip of the senate confirmation hearing of Chief Justice of Nigeria Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad where he betrayed mortifying ignorance of the meaning of the term “technicality” aggrandises the point I made in my April 20, 2019 column titled “Atiku’s Citizenship and Buhari’s Illiterate Lawyers” about Buhari’s love affair with incompetence and mediocrity.

I noted that, “The law of attraction says like attracts like, which explains why Muhammadu Buhari is a magnet for mediocrities. Almost all his appointees are, like him, underwhelming, intellectually incurious rubes.” Justice Tanko is the latest instantiation of Buhari’s passion for attracting and elevating people who mirror his own well-known incompetence and witlessness.

First, here is a brief background for people who are not clued in on the exchange that exposed the soft underbelly of the awkward, cringe-worthy ignorance of Nigeria’s Chief Justice. Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe asked Tanko if he thought it made legal and moral sense to pervert the merit of cases before the Supreme Court on the basis of “mere technicality.”

Abaribe reminded Tanko that, “In the 2018 case of Akeredolu vs Abraham, the Supreme Court said, ‘technicality in the administration of justice shuts out justice.’…It is therefore better to have a case heard and determined on its merit than to leave the court with the shield of victory obtained on mere technicality.”

Nevertheless, in spite of the legal precedent the Supreme Court has set regarding the primacy of legal merit of cases over their technicalities in the dispensation of justice, Abaribe pointed out, the Supreme Court this year ruled against PDP’s Ademola Adeleke of Osun State not because his case lacked merit but on the basis of a frivolous technicality.

All this passed over Tanko’s head. He had not the haziest idea what “technicality” meant and went off on a puzzling tangent. “Permit me, distinguished senators, to ask what a technicality is,” he said. “It is something which is technical. By definition, it is something that is not usual and may sometimes defy all the norms known to a normal thing. Now, we have technicalities in our laws and this is because these laws we have inherited were from the British.”

Ha! You can’t make this stuff up! He continued: “Now, if something which is technical comes before the court, what we do in trial courts is to ask people who are experts in that field to come and testify. We rely on their testimony because they are experts in that field.

“Ask me anything about an aeroplane, I don’t know. Ask me to drive [sic] an aeroplane, I am sure if you are a passenger and they told you that the flight is going to be driven [sic] by Honourable Justice Ibrahim Tanko, I am sure you will get out of the plane because it is something that requires technicality and if I have any technicality, my technicality will only be limited to law.”

If I didn’t watch the video myself, I would have dismissed the response attributed to Tanko as an ill-willed spoof intentionally designed to diminish his estimation.

Although I know that spectacular ignorance and vulgar loyalty are the most crucial criteria to be considered worthy of consideration for appointment in Buhari’s regime, I am still distressed both by the disconcerting know-nothingness Tanko evinced in his response to Abaribe and by the fact that he is head of Nigeria’s judiciary.

Tanko isn’t just any judge; he is the Chief Justice of Nigeria. He didn’t just study law; he has a Ph.D. in law from one of Nigeria’s finest universities— at a time when Nigeria’s education supposedly still had integrity. And facility for and proficiency in language (in Nigeria’s case the English language) and logical disputation are as central to the job of lawyers and judges as farming instruments are to the job of being a farmer.

If Tanko doesn’t know what a “technicality” is, what does he really know? Every averagely educated person knows that in conversational English, a “technicality” is an unimportant detail, a triviality. In law, it means a procedural trifle. This legal sense of the term is now so commonplace that it has diffused to everyday discourse. Why would a judge of nearly 40 years’ standing, a PhD in law, and the head of the nation’s judicial branch of government not know what a technicality is?

But what is even more disquieting is that Tanko inadvertently revealed ignorance of the precedent established by the Supreme Court in which he has served for more than 12 years. Had he read the Supreme Court judgement Abaribe referenced, he would have at least encountered the word “technicality.” He apparently wasn’t, probably still isn’t, aware that the Supreme Court had even laid a precedent that says the Court should not use procedural inanities to subvert the legal merit of cases.

It must be precisely this ignorance that led the Supreme Court to dismiss Ademola Adeleke’s bid to retrieve his stolen mandate from the current governor of Osun State. The Supreme Court didn’t even evaluate Adeleke’s weighty, water-tight case against Oyetola; it ruled against Adeleke just because one of the panelists on the election tribunal that had restored Adeleke’s stolen mandate was absent on one day during the trial.

That was a bewildering reversal of the Supreme Court’s own precedent. All over the world, courts rely on precedents to adjudicate current cases. Precedents may be modified, but they are rarely overturned without a compelling reason, certainly not within a few years after they were established. That is what legal scholars call stare decisis, that is, the doctrine that courts should follow precedent. A Chief Justice that is ignorant about something as basic as “technicality” is unlikely to know what “precedent” means, much less something as rarefied as the doctrine of stare decisis.

After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Oyetola, I wrote on social media that the ruling was judgment, not justice. In spite of suppositions to the contrary, “judgment” and “justice” are not synonymous. Some judgements pervert justice. The Adeleke vs Oyetola case is a classic example of that. Sadly, the distinction between judgement and justice will become starker, bolder, and more invidious now that we have an unbelievably ignorant and incompetent Chief Justice who heads a Supreme Court that’s now an unabashedly “remote controllable” extension of Aso Rock.

Even feeble pretences to democracy and decency are now dead in Buhari’s Nigeria. Atiku Abubakar’s petition against Buhari’s unexampled electoral fraud has no chance of success in a Supreme Court that overturns its less than one-year-old precedent, that is headed by a nescient and inept chief justice who doesn’t know the meaning of basic terms that are crucial to the administration of justice, and who owes debt to an audacious electoral mandate snatcher for his position.

Perhaps more regrettable for me as a northerner is that Tanko has helped to feed the stereotype of the northern know-nothing who owes his rise in society to incestuous northern nepotistic patronage networks. Of course, it’s unfair to hold up Tanko’s obvious cognitive inferiority as representative of all northerners. There are way smarter, more educated northern lawyers than Tanko who nonetheless vegetate on the fringes.

Our problem in the north has always been that we don’t put forward our best eleven, to use the common soccer analogy. We are often led by our worst. And we are all judged by the crass ignorance and indiscretions of our worst who nevertheless become our public face. Buhari is taking the elevation of wretched ignoramuses to important positions to the next level. How utterly sad.



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Justice Tanko is the latest instantiation of Buhari’s passion for attracting and elevating people who mirror his own well-known incompetence and witlessness.

Nothing but the cry of a senior wailer!

THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA IS HERE TO STAY,
and there is nothing criminals can do about it!

Sane Nigerians should not bother themselves reading this lenghty trash.
It is meant for wailers.

TAKE NOTE Guys!
Okay Bye!

Atiku stooge talking.You go soon go back to jail farook.Wailers, where una dey?
Make una come craze here.

When an illiterate is in Power , he surrounded himself with the people of his same IQ. This is the case of Muhammadu Buhari, the president, Federal republic of Nigeria.

An illiterate product of a defective quota system in power can only surround himself with illiterates, dumbskulls and incompetent people like himself.

“In the 2018 case of Akeredolu vs Abraham, the Supreme Court said, ‘technicality in the administration of justice shuts out justice.’…It is therefore better to have a case heard and determined on its merit than to leave the court with the shield of victory obtained on mere technicality.”


"...The Supreme Court had even laid a precedent that says the Court should not use procedural inanities to subvert the legal merit of cases.

The Supreme Court didn’t even evaluate Adeleke’s weighty, water-tight case against Oyetola; it ruled against Adeleke just because one of the panelists on the election tribunal that had restored Adeleke’s stolen mandate was absent on one day during the trial.

[s]

post=80475548:
Nothing but the cry of a senior wailer! THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA IS HERE TO STAY[/b]and there is nothing criminals can do about it! [b]Sane Nigerians should not bother themselves reading this lenghty trash.It is meant for wailers.

[/s]

post=80475548:

Nothing but the cry of a senior wailer!

THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA IS HERE TO STAY,
and there is nothing criminals can do about it!

Sane Nigerians should not bother themselves reading this lenghty trash.
It is meant for wailers.

TAKE NOTE Guys!
Okay Bye!

I actually read it, and technically, it's a load of waffle!

Anigreat:




When an illiterate is in Power , he surrounded himself with the people of his same IQ. This is the case of Muhammadu Buhari, the president, Federal republic of Nigeria.

he is not just an illiterate but a lazy illiterate, slow to everything, a complete DISGRACE to educated Nigerians both home and abroad, now that he has everything to himself he will still complain cos that what failures do always complaining ...maybe this time the reason will be CoZA issue lol.

Op what do you expect from someone who do not have a certificate to show ....his friends will be like him ni....dullarrrrrrrrds everywhere turning Nigeria into a bush awon werey.

Buhari is a congenital dullard who only feels at home in the presence of other chronic dullards like himself hence his penchant for recruiting chaff instead of seeds . You will recall how days ago he puppet forced the Senate to approve to very unqualified men into the board of the NCC despite being rejected by the Senate for almost gross comical educational qualifications they claimed to possess . Nigerians will recall the President Buhari is also himself armed with one of such comical educational qualifications.

Its a pity

The Chief Justice did fail in his response. Even a law school student will do better.

He may be brighter and sharper at the Bench but he really disappointed the Bar and Bench.

Nonetheless, I Don't think the issue should be stretched further than that. He hasn't been found wanting in the discharge of his duties even as a SC judge and no body have complained of the quality of Judgement he has delivered till date.

We should learn to do away with ethnicity, religion and party politics atimes

Can anyone point at any appointee of Buhari that can be described as master stroke or world class.
None

that CJN is dumber than a rock

chief justice tanko dumbo olodo

A CJN that doesn't know that planes are flown not driven

eyeview:
Can anyone point at any appointee of Buhari that can be described as master stroke or world class.
None

Appointments are done based on loyalty not competence. Those who lick ass are usually not sterling.

We are stuck with mediocrity for the foreseeable future.

Csami:
A CJN that doesn't know that planes are flown not driven

Quite unfortunate.

What did you expect? They are all Products of the quota system and child marriage.

The next four years is going to be the most incompetent in the history of this country.
Incompetent Presidency
Incompetent Legislative
Incompetent Judiciary

Just here to read comments on behalf of C.R.A(COMMENT READERS ASSOCIATION), Please make it brief .

I am waiting for the day this guy would NOT make sense!

FarahAideed:
Buhari is a congenital dullard who only feels at home in the presence of other chronic dullards like himself hence his penchant for recruiting chaff instead of seeds .

You will recall how days ago he puppet forced the Senate to approve to very unqualified men into the board of the NCC despite being rejected by the Senate for almost gross comical educational qualifications they claimed to possess . Nigerians will recall the President Buhari is also himself armed with one of such comical educational qualifications.

Ngeneukwenu right now.

Cc lzaa metaphysical adaibeku amatarasha sarrki deomelo afamed

immhotep:

Cc lzaa metaphysical adaibeku amatarasha sarrki deomelo afamed

Immhotep y do you waste your time on a useless topics ,Armies are setting up ruga by themselves and you are fighting lesser fulani agenda!
...


Always set your priority straight ok?

Adaibeku:






Immhotep y do you waste your time on a useless topics ,Armies are setting up ruga by themselves and you are fighting lesser fulani agenda!
...


Always set your priority straight ok?

Hello sweetie.
RUGA will fail woefully.
Even if US Army is behind it.

immhotep:

Hello sweetie.
RUGA will fail woefully.
Even if US Army is behind it.

This isnt mouth ,Am so burning with anger right now!

Am in pains! .
Do fulani armies take us for fools ,see what yorubas has caused because of igbo hate

Adaibeku:



This isnt mouth ,Am so burning with anger right now!

Am in pains! .
Do fulani armies take us for fools ,see what yorubas has caused because of igbo hate

It will not work.
Those guys are too incompetent, hateful and corrupt to achieve anything tangible.

immhotep:

It will not work.
Those guys are too incompetent, hateful and corrupt to achieve anything tangible.

Is true ,u are right anyway!

Now am calm

Adaibeku:






Immhotep y do you waste your time on a useless topics ,Armies are setting up ruga by themselves and you are fighting lesser fulani agenda!
...


Always set your priority straight ok?

Secessionists are truly propagandists. I have taken the battle to your domain since 5 days now, you are no where to be seen. Just similar to the way your Uncle abandoned his followers. Coward

Adaibeku:








Is true ,u are right anyway!

Now am calm

They are just reaping the fruits of long years of dullapo behaviour.

Afamed:

Secessionists are truly propagandists. I have taken the battle to your domain since 5 days now, you are no where to be seen. Just similar to the way your Uncle abandoned his followers. Coward

RUGA advocate

Adaibeku:









This isnt mouth ,Am so burning with anger right now!

Am in pains! .
Do fulani armies take us for fools ,see what yorubas has caused because of igbo hate

Alarmists and propagandist. This was how your Uncle was dishing out fake information few years ago before he took 440 from Jerusalem to London. Coward

post=80475548:
Nothing but the cry of a senior wailer! THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA IS HERE TO STAY, and there is nothing criminals can do about it!
Sane Nigerians should not bother themselves reading this lenghty trash. It is meant for wailers. TAKE NOTE Guys! Okay Bye!

Bros, you can disappoint!