How Supreme Court Damaged Trust, Public Respect In Lawan’s Ruling – EU Says
The European Union Election Observation Mission has said that the Supreme Court ruling that reinstated former President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan to the Senate even when it was clearly known that he did not participate in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries, has become as a major contributing factor to its loss of public trust, respect and the negative perception surrounding the apex court.
The EU which stated this while reviewing the ruling of the Supreme Court in pre-election cases, strongly condemned the Nigeria’s apex Court for its judgement.
It stressed that the development has significantly brought the reputation of the Supreme Court in Nigeria to an all-time low just as it severely damaged its public image, stressing that it was sad that the Supreme Court reinstated Lawan, who did not participate in the primaries of the APC for the Senate position.
These were contained in the EU’s recently released final report titled; ‘Election Observation Mission Nigeria 2023’, in which it stressed that; “The Nigerian Supreme Court continues to suffer from a negative perception following its decision to reinstate Senator Ahmed Lawan, who never took part in the Senate primaries.
“Both the High court and the Appeal Court judgments were against this action”.
During the Senate’s valedictory session, Rochas Okorocha took a humorous jab at Lawan regarding the circumstances surrounding his return to the Senate without participation in the APC’s senatorial primary.
Okorochahad said; “I didn’t run for the Senate this time. I only ran for the office of the president. You are a very clever politician. How you managed to come back to the Senate is another chapter in our political history that we need to discuss.”
“I was out there in the field with you, running for president. I never knew how you were able to navigate your way, leaving some of us behind. Next time, you must teach me your tricks”.
Background
Lawan had contested for the presidential ticket of the APC but came a distant 4th but, after losing the Party primary, he quickly moved secure the senatorial ticket of his district from Bashir Machina who won the Senatorial party primary.
Machina, who won the Party primary refused to surrender his APC ticket for the Yobe North senatorial district and moved to the Court to validate his mandate.
But, the leadership of the APC led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu bowed to pressure and conceded to remove Machina for Lawan by writing to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to replace Machina with Lawan as its candidate for the Yobe North senatorial district for the 2023 elections.
Curiously, the Supreme Court ruling catapulted Lawan back to the Senate after a long battle by Machina at the High Court and Court of Appeal.
The controversial February 6, 2023 Supreme Court judgement that favoured Lawan took many legal luminaries by surprise just as it attracted public condemnation.
