JUST IN: Again, Supreme Court in the eye of the storm over 2023 poll

In this report, Vanguard’s Law & Human Rights examines a tweet by a Nigerian-American journalist, Jackson Ude, alleging that President Bola Tinubu was having exparte communication with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola to influence the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in the on-going cases challenging his electoral victory in the last presidential poll and a news report by an online newspaper in its March 23 edition alleging similar allegations of conspiracy and professional misconduct against the CJN and Tinubu; appraises the separate defence offered by the CJN on the one hand and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, on the other hand, on the two occasions, and argues that the entire incident raises a fresh concern on whether or not serving judges should continue to hear pre and post-election matters in the country.

Background

Last week Wednesday, Mr. Ude, a Nigerian-American journalist and Director of Strategy and Communication to former President Goodluck Jonathan raised the alarm that President Ahmed Tinubuwas having exparte communication with the CJN, Justice Ariwoola to influence the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in the on-going petitions challenging his electoral victory in the last presidential poll.

Ude who made the allegation via tweet specifically alleged that during one of the conversations, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice OlukayodeAriwoola, was believed to have advised Bola Tinubu and the APC to get ready for a repeat election given the facts available on the election disputes and the laws relating to the matter.

The journalist added: “This is true despite the fact that the U.S. authorities learned about three private phone conversations he held with Tinubu, the DG, DSS, Yusuf Bichi and two other justices of the Supreme Court.”

Ude said that the two justices of the Supreme Court had been added to the list of six Supreme Court justices who are prohibited from entering the United States, bringing the number to eight.

But he did not mention the names of the two new justices that the CJN spoke with on the election disputes.

Locating CJN in presidential election disputes

Vanguard reports that President Tinubu’s victory at the February 25, 2023 presidential election is being contested by two leading opposition party candidates – AtikuAbubakar and Peter Obi.

There is also the third petition filed against Mr Tinubu’s victory by the All Peoples Movement, APM.

The CJN who is at the centre of controversy in the Ude’s allegation wields enormous influence in presidential election cases.

By virtue of section 233 (1) (e) of the 1999 Constitution, the CJN can choose to appoint himself to head the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court that will give the final verdict on the cases.

Indeed, whether he chooses to be on the panel or not, he has the prerogative to choose the members of the Supreme Court panel that will settle the matter one way or the other.

As the head of the Supreme Court, the CJN is also head of the entire Nigerian judiciary, who also oversees the NJC, the body that is responsible for the appointment and disciplining of judges across the country.

APC denies Ude’s allegation of Tinubu’sexparte communication with CJN

Ude who claimed to recognize the powers of the CJN in the determination of presidential election disputes said his allegation against the heads of the Federal executive and judiciary arm of government was not frivolous.

Butsoonafter Ude’s allegation hit the social media space, the All Progressive Congress, APC, promptly denied it.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, in a statement said Nigerians are “smarter and more discerning” than to be affected by Ude’s “opposition brand of tasteless and crass mercenary expedition.”

According to him, “President Tinubu and our party won the last presidential election without a doubt, and do not have any need to engage in side conversations with the CJN regarding pending petitions before the PEPC,” Morka said.

“As the core democrat that he is, the president respects the right of aggrieved candidates in the election to seek redress for any grievances that they may have. The constitution and Electoral Act provide effective guarantees of that right.

“The PEPC should be afforded the time and space to perform its important constitutional and statutory duty of adjudicating and delivering a verdict in the matter without needlessly calling the integrity of our judges into question.

“Falsehood and conjecture by the likes of Mr. Ude only aim to inflame political passions, create doubt and panic, and pre-emptively undermine the verdict of the courts in this important matter,” he added.

CJN didn’t speak with Tinubu, others on election petitions—S’Court

Similarly, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has also refuted claims of a telephone conversation between the CJN, Justice Ariwoola, and President Tinubu on the ongoing Presidential Election Petition for the 2023 election.

The apex court said that Justice Ariwoola neither spoke with Tinubu nor the Director General of the Department of State Service, DSS, with a view to pressurizing the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal for favourable judgment in the petitions.

Supreme Court of Nigeria spokesman, Dr. Akande Festus made the clarification in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

I stand by my allegation —Jackson Ude

But in less than 24 hours after the APC denied the allegation made against both the CJN and President Tinubu, Ude fired back, saying, he stood by his tweet.

“I insist and stand by my tweet that Bola Tinubu has been having conversations with the CJN and the DG, DSS before and after the presidential elections. Their planned meeting in France and London was botched when it was exposed by the media.

“Tinubu has had series of phone conversations with the mentioned persons requesting their opinion and help over the 2023 Presidential election matter pending at the PEPC.

“He had also sought the opinion of a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice on his chances at the tribunal. If they keep denying, let them submit their phone records and that of their aides for forensics.”

“APC is the most mischievous and lying political party in Africa. A den and safe haven for criminals,” he had added.

Who is Jackson Ude?

Currently based in the US, Ude is not strange to controversies.

As a publisher of online newspaper, he had written many exclusive stories about government officials and their activities, some of which had set him on a collision course with successive governments.

Sometimes in 2002, Jackson Udewrote a story in the defunct Post Express newspaper, but the piece angered the then government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a development that made the Abia State-born newshound flee Nigeria after his life was threatened over the investigative story.

He had recently accused the immediate past Vice President of Nigeria, Prof.YemiOsinbajo of collecting ¦ 4 billion from Ibrahim Magu, the former EFCC boss, an allegation that the VP battled tears to deny.

Although he was recognised abroad recently for his outstanding contribution to media practice and good governance in Nigeria, the APC dismissed his recent tweet on Tinubu and CJN as mischievous and intentionally misleading.

Notwithstanding APC’s claim, Vanguard reports that Ude’s allegation of professional misconduct against the CJN regarding the on-going petitions against President Tinubu’s election was not the first.

Online newspaper once accused Chief Justice Ariwoola of misconduct over 2023 presidential poll

Vanguard recalls March 23, 2023, when a social commentator, lawyer and former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi similarly tweeted the photograph of the CJN, Justice Ariwoola, seated in a wheelchair about to board an airplane at an airport.