The rumoured plan by the ruling All Progressive Congress, to influence INEC to issue a certificate of return to Mr John Ogah, in furtherance of the judgment of the federal high court, is worrisome.
There is said to be a grand plan, now in its well advanced stage, to swear in Ogah, who will then subsequently defect to the ruling APC, on the excuse of the fictionalisation within the PDP between Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi.
On June 29, 2016, the sitting governor of Abia State, Mr Okezie Ikpeazu, filed an appeal against the said judgment, together with an application for a stay of execution of the judgment of court. The said application is yet to be heard or determined by the court, the consequence of which is that the judgment of court cannot be enforced.
It is well settled in our laws, up to the Supreme Court, that once an appeal has been filed against a judgment and the appellant has also filed an application to stay the execution of the said judgment, that judgment cannot be enforced, until the application for a stay of execution has been heard and determined.
It is a dangerous precedent that the APC led government is setting for our democracy, if it is lying in wait and prodding INEC to violate the basic tenets of democracy, which is respect for the rule of law and due process.
In times past, APC governors and public officers under its platform have benefited robustly, from this hallowed principle of law, the latest example being the president himself, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, Retd. Very recently, the federal high court dismissed a preliminary objection filed by the president, in respect of the case challenging his eligibility, for alleged absence of his WAEC certificate. The president promptly filed an appeal against the said ruling and also filed an application for a stay of further proceedings before the high court. The high court deferred to the president and adjourned further proceedings sine die.
This is the way it should work, for parties and indeed all public officers and institutions, to give due respect to the rule of law and due process of court.
In one breadth, we are told that the judiciary is the headache of this present administration, but when it suits the same administration, it frustrates, intimidates and muzzles the judiciary, judicial officers and even lawyers.
I call on the good people of Nigeria and all our allies worldwide and all lovers of democracy, to demand that the ruling APC government give respect to the laws of the land, to avoid resort to lawlessness.
Thank you.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa
