‘Why Are Judges Stammering?”— All Eyes On Judiciary Members React To Verdicts Of Presidential Tribunal

As the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal tilts in favour of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, members of the ‘All Eyes On The Judiciary’ have been commenting on one of their WhatsApp platforms which our correspondent saw in the heat of the Wednesday’s judgement.

Majority of them however, said that the judiciary has failed to be the last hope of the common man.

One of them, Ihuoma, wrote, “I thought the judiciary would have saved this country today; highly disappointed on the whole system. People already predicted this, and have mocked me in my office for hoping that the judiciary will do otherwise. I took permission today to resume tomorrow with the winning news to them.”

Ifunanya wrote, “My heart is broken into pieces. We won’t keep quiet because if we don’t get it right this time, we won’t get it again.”

For Aboyangel, “If you all are ready to take back our country, we must demonstrate it by our actions and it’s time to do it. Nigerian citizens, we are too intelligent to be controlled and fooled by some group of small set of yahoo leaders. Enough is enough! When #EndSARS came, they were scared, just that our focus was on ‘End police brutality’. This time, we need to face the politicians.”

Another commentator wrote, “Why are the judges stammering in reading the judgement?

Oseni wrote, “So if INEC cannot be compelled, why drum electronic transmission to gain the people’s confidence?”

So far, the tribunal had ruled that the 25% FCT votes which Tinubu did not win are immaterial as FCT is the same as the rest of the 36 states of the federation. On Tinubu’s conviction by the US Court, the panel held that the US District in Northern Illinois ordering the forfeiture of Tinubu’s $460, 000 for being connected to proceeds of narcotics does not disqualify him from participating in the presidential election.

According to them, the forfeiture does not amount to conviction. It further held that Obi did not obtain US authorities’ certificate to enforce a foreign court judgement in Nigeria. On non-transmission of results electronically, the court ruled that no law compels INEC to do electronic transmission of results.

The five-member bench is chaired by Justice Haruna Tsammani.