A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Odinkalu has described the Supreme Court’s inability to provide a documented judgment on Peter Obi’s presidential appeal as a “Supreme scandal and height of judicial malefaction”.
According to Odinkalu, the fact remains that the apex court does not have a formal verdict on record for the Labour Party’s case despite purportedly ruling it would align with its judgement dismissing Atiku Abubakar’s petition last October.
He alleged on social media that the Supreme Court deliberately avoided properly situating its decision on Obi’s appeal in order to skip addressing “inconvenient issues”. The professor slammed such conduct as the peak of judicial misconduct, if proven accurate.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-2023028789149162&output=html&h=250&slotname=5559997686&adk=3367154331&adf=3265163009&pi=t.ma~as.5559997686&w=300&lmt=1701463969&format=300×250&url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenigerialawyer.com%2Fsupreme-courts-failure-to-release-obi-appeal-judgement-a-scandal-odinkalu%2F&ea=0&wgl=1&dt=1701475141832&bpp=3&bdt=100977&idt=3&shv=r20231128&mjsv=m202311150101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3Dd335da84847ee286-22d05e5a5ce0008d%3AT%3D1695518500%3ART%3D1701475046%3AS%3DALNI_MbwkbTXmJpom3vaRNuIOuU8HVmaiQ&gpic=UID%3D00000cad587b302e%3AT%3D1695518500%3ART%3D1701475046%3AS%3DALNI_MaReyrg7azdqw1XaJfoccSbd-PXlQ&prev_fmts=696×174%2C696x174%2C0x0%2C728x90%2C468x60&nras=1&correlator=3034856783822&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1408494490.1695426560&ga_sid=1701475046&ga_hid=2086289469&ga_fc=1&u_tz=60&u_his=50&u_h=768&u_w=1366&u_ah=728&u_aw=1366&u_cd=24&u_sd=1&adx=141&ady=1720&biw=1349&bih=615&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=44759876%2C44759927%2C31079266%2C44809004%2C44809314%2C31078301%2C44807754%2C44806140%2C44807764%2C44808149%2C44808284%2C44809072%2C44809919&oid=2&psts=AOrYGsm4x8VE26kg1N35TUPMMeDn5a0On5Jykyo_Mn_N1d5_7t5vwFXxTp2g4xXOjSFaerVfQNDPLJ8TtibK9Ig9zbg4_c7s%2CAOrYGsnDqoQ6t_nsd1e–EfdNuZb0BdIU5-ckXByRZT0SB2VrKiPpx5Bimabm_U1J3yuA5a4bdEFUCroFOR5wGzyRMEY0phz%2CAOrYGsk7IuqtUe5xbamPjl70B8u2fgx_5Byy_Yygbp2Hr3hcz3SHtQcJ4JkenkG-m4Be7XzsakKeEM4xFMbxBA&pvsid=1605948279543117&tmod=1241711650&uas=1&nvt=1&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fthenigerialawyer.com%2F&fc=896&brdim=-8%2C-8%2C-8%2C-8%2C1366%2C0%2C1382%2C744%2C1366%2C615&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CleEbr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=0&bc=31&psd=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDNd&ifi=6&uci=a!6&btvi=4&fsb=1&dtd=M
Odinkalu’s reaction comes amidst controversies over the failure of the court to furnish Obi and LP with a Certified True Copy of its judgement more than a month after the ruling as obtained by other petitioners like Atiku.
The Labour Party had in a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Secretary, Umar Farouk Ibrahim, raised an alarm that the Supreme Court has refused to give the party the ruling on Obi’s appeal since October 26.
The party had stated that “On the 26th of October, 2023, LP and her lawyers were in Court. The Supreme Court proceeded to read the judgment in Appeal No. SC/CV/935/2023 filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). After that, the Presiding Justice, His Lordship John Inyang Okoro JSC, verbally stated that the decision in the LP appeal would abide by the judgment just delivered in respect of the PDP appeal!”
The party further stated that “The two appeals were not even consolidated at the Supreme Court but were heard separately.
“At the separate hearing of both appeals, the question was never raised, the parties never agreed, and the Court neither gave a directive nor ordered that the judgment in one appeal would abide by the decision in the other.
“The petitions from where the two appeals arose were heard separately at the Court of Appeal based on separate pleadings and different sets of witnesses. Thus, the facts of the two petitions were remarkably different.
“The LP finds it very embarrassing and depressing that the Supreme Court would, after hearing the appeal by our party, refuse to deliver any judgment and also fail to avail our party of any copy of whatever it considers to be its decision.
“With every sense of responsibility, the LP believes that the Supreme Court’s conduct is regrettable and unprecedented. This constitutes an unmitigated breach of the constitutional right of LP and her candidate to a fair hearing.”
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyer
Fam Famek Esq
December 3, 2023 at 3:45 amI sincerely wonder how some of these justices feel decent places among decent people. I do not know how they feel when criticised by their peers, albeit in their retirement remarks.