Boni Haruna Ibori et al Page 1 of 3 Boni Haruna, Ibori, et al By Chris Akiri T`HE Adamawa State's Governorship and Legislative Houses Tribunal, led by Justine Zanna Kashirfu, on Wednesday, March 24, 2004, squared up to the law as he was it, an immutable standard, shorn of the varnishing effect of the rule of natural justice, which forbids delayed justice, and summoned up enough courage to abort the re-election of Boni Haruna, 339 days after the election that brought him to power. Perhaps it is pertinent to state, to begin with, that these thoughts have nothing to do with the legal basis of Justice Kashirfu's judgment, which, in all probability, was based on the corpus of evidence available before him. On the contrary, they are concerned about the immoral delay in reaching that decision. In my considered opinion, law and justice must be coincident. The dictum, "justice delayed, is justice denied", is a fundamental rule of natural justice. Why should it take an election petition tribunal almost one year to adjudicate on an election petition: The Tribunal had allowed the Governor to settle down to the task of governance. He had put in place all the paraphernalia of office: He had assembled a cabinet, appointed directors and chairmen to the various parastatals in the state, allowed to implement the 2003/2004 budget up to the hilt and to formulate the 2004/2005 budget for the state, etc. All the elected politicians and political appointees had settled down to work in earnest. The Governor may have concluded serious bilateral or multilateral agreements, binding the state, with other leaders outside his state. Then, all of a sudden, the Election Petition Tribunal handed down a seismic judgment, capable of causing the implosion of the socio-economic and political stability of the state. To avoid such an unsavoury repercussion, the Electoral Act, 2002, in its Section 137 forcefully and unequivocally provides: "Without prejudice to the provisions of Section 294 subsection (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, an election petition and an appeal arising therefrom under this Act shall be given accelerated hearing and shall have precedence over all other cases or matters before the Tribunal or Court." Ex hypothesis, therefore, the Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Petition Tribunal and Adamawa State merely sought to create legal rights and enforce legal duties at the expense of natural rights and duties reflected in the legal provisions designed to prevent a denial of justice and the occurrence of socio-economic and political cataclysm. In another development, the chairman of the Delta State's Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunal, Justice Tanimu Zailani, ruled, a few days ago, that he had jurisdiction to fix the venue of the Tribunal, that is to say, outside Delta State. The correct interpretation of the unambiguous provisions of Section 185(2) of the 1999 Constitution was either lost on him or he wittingly decided to set it at nought. http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/barticles/boni_haruna_ibori_et_al.htm 7/18/2008 Boni Haruna Ibori et al Page 2 of 3 Accordingly to that section, "there shall be established in each state of the Federation one or more election tribunals to be known as the Governoship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunals which shall, to the exclusion of any other court or tribunal have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy Governor or as a member of any legislative house". Acknowledging the existence of Section 185(2), Justice Zailani stated that the section "provides for the establishment of this Tribunal", conveniently omitting the operative phrase: "In each state of the Federation." In consonance with the provisions of Section 185(2) of the Constitution, Section 19(2) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2002, emphatically provides that "in fixing the place of hearing, the Tribunal or Court shall have due regard to the proximity and accessibility from the place where the election was held". The word "shall", as used in this context, is in consistent with a concept of discretion. It operates to impose a duty which may be enforced, particularly where persons have rights which ought to be exercised or enforced (People v O'Rourke, 124 Cal. App.752, 13 P. 2d 989, 992) In August, 2003, the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, ordered the relocation of the duly established Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunal in Enugu State, the locus in quo of the elections, to Abuja, between which and Enugu is a distance of almost 600 kilometres, ostensibly for reasons of insecurity. The relocation of the Election Tribunal from the state, where the elections took place, to a foreign land, which Abuja, in this case, represents, flew in the face of the concept of territorial jurisdiction, deriving largely from the need to ensure equality of access to the law and legal services. This concept was established many years ago by the Federal Supreme Court in British Bata Shoe Co. v Melikian (1956) IFSC 100 @ 102 that for the purpose of jurisdiction, "a Region (state) is like a foreign country to any other". Apparently bowing to the groundswell of criticisms that trailed the transfer of the Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunal from Enugu to Abuja, the Court of Appeal, in September 2003, relocated the Tribunal back to Enugu. So, what is Justice Zailani saying: What does he mean by "an administrative decision" Is he distinguishing the most recent decision of the Court of Appeal or has the latter reversed itself as it were? That Nigeria is a federation bears re-emphasis. The Constitution says so, and all our political leaders did swear to faithfully uphold its tenets. Any attempt on the part of anyone to expose Nigeria to the rigorism of unitarism and the concomitant centripetality is unacceptable. All this underscores the inevitability of a National Conference from which the President and other egocentric politicians shy away. Apart from Governor James Ibori of Delta State, to whom the espousal of the concept of true federalism and resource control is like an article of religious faith, Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu of Lagos State comes across as a staunch believer in true federalism and all it connotes. Only indolent and slothful politicians kick against true federalism, preferring to hang on to the apron strings of the federal Leviathan. Governor Tinubu is hardworking and imbued with managerial acumen. So, in spite of inveterate wet-blankets, he had created 37 new local government councils, which I regard as genuine councils if they were created in substantial conformance with subsection (3) of Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution. And after the Local Government Council Elections of March 27, 2004, the Governor had promptly and dutifully sworn in all the victorious 57 Council Chairmen. Pray, that's my man. http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/barticles/boni_haruna_ibori_et_al.htm 7/18/2008 Boni Haruna Ibori et al Page 3 of 3 It is pertinent to end this piece in a postscript to the Judiciary. That noble arm of government should steer a position of absolute political neutrality. The Judiciary should not, in its grant of ex parte injunctions or in its judgments (such as the decision to relocate a State Election Petition Tribunal from that state to Abuja), give the dangerous impression that it is being teleguided or susceptible to teleguiding by the Presidency. May 2004 http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/barticles/boni_haruna_ibori_et_al.htm 7/18/2008.