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The Action Congress (AC) has said it was misunderstood by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Michael Aondoakaa, who accused the party of hailing or criticising the judiciary based on whether a ruling favours it (party) or not.
The Action Congress (AC) has said it was misunderstood by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Michael Aondoakaa, who accused the party of hailing or criticising the judiciary based on whether a ruling favours it (party) or not.
'We believe the Minister did not read our statement well. For the avoidance of doubt, we have had occasions to commend the judiciary over rulings that do not even involve our party, like the judgement of the Supreme Court on the Rivers gubernatorial election and the election petition rulings in Enugu, Kogi and Kebbi states.
'But we have not hesitated - and will not - to criticise the judiciary when we feel it is no longer living up to its billing as the last hope of the common man and a vanguard against arbitrariness, whether the case in question concerns us or not,'' the party said in a statement issued in Lagos Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
AC restated its earlier stand that recent developments in the judiciary have shaken the confidence of the citizens and could undermine the credibility of the judiciary if nothing is done to check the trend.
To buttress its claim, the party cited the conflicting Court of Appeal rulings in Kebbi and Sokoto states, which both had similar cases of double nominations of two candidates but got different rulings; the election petition tribunal in Osun, where a key evidence by the petitioner was disallowed on no grounds and the Court of Appeal judgement in Enugu, where non-compliance with the Electoral Act was not deemed strong enough to overturn the state governor's election.
'We are also miffed at the unusually long delays by the Court of Appeal in hearing cases in Delta and Edo states, for example. After all, it is said that justice delayed is justice denied,'' it said.
AC said the only reason Nigeria did not erupt in crisis, like it happened in Kenya and Zimbabwe, after the mess made of the general elections in 2007, was because of the people's belief that the judiciary can help to right the wrongs perpetrated by the election cheats.
But the moment the people see the judiciary as a part of the problem, due to the few Judges who compromise their oath of office and trade their integrity for pecuniary gains, then anarchy will set in and our democracy will be endangered.
'This is why we felt it was right and timely to remind the judiciary that it is fast losing the confidence of Nigerians. However, we remain resolute in our strong belief in the ability of the judiciary to rise above the rot in our system,'' AC said