Press
statement by the Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL)
Last
week, kerfuffle broke out over the presence of the Chief Judge of Edo state at
the fifth anniversary celebration of Governor Oshiomhole.
The
torrents of attacks unleashed by apparatchiks of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) on the Chief Judge following his presence at that anniversary celebration
highlight the crisis of opposition politics in our country today.
The
bases of the attacks on the Chief Judge of Edo state are unfounded.
There
is nothing in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 that
bars the Chief Judge of Edo state from attending official functions of the very
state Government he represents as Head of the third arm. Sections 270-274 of
the aforesaid Constitution are very clear; and in fact it limits and delimits
the spheres of functions and powers of the arms of Government of the Federation
of Nigeria.
And
for the party apparatchiks to have scurrilously attacked the Chief Judge of Edo
state on a subject within his remit and powers signifies one of two things:
that they have shallow understanding of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and or that they deliberately set out to impugn the
integrity of the Chief Judge of Edo state; and by extension the integrity of
the Edo state bench.
Our
judiciary has today become the whipping dog of politicians. Everywhere, the
courts and our judges are subjected to blackmail and attacks; and in extreme
cases, as we have seen in Edo state recently, kidnap. Politicians who lose out
in the power game take their frustrations on judges and other judicial
officers; and as the nonsense in Edo state has shown, frustrated politicians
consider judicial officers as easy pickings and they take on them with cavalier
because judicial convention bars them from defending themselves in the court of
public opinion.
May
we sound a note of warning here to the PDP apparatchiks in Edo state and to
politicians across the length and breadth of our country: the Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL)
shall resist attempts by politicians to drag the bench to disrepute, or
publicly malign judges who possess no right of reply!
The
politicisation of governance in our country must not be extended to the
judiciary. Politicians must restrict themselves to the policy and political
turfs; and by doing so, they must resist the temptation of dragging our judicial
officers into political and conflictual arenas, refrain
from rubbishing the integrity of judicial officers just to score cheap
political points.
The Chief Judge of Edo state did no wrong when he attended
the fifth anniversary celebration of Governor Oshiomhole, or did he go beyond
the bounds of his oaths of office. The scurrilous attacks of the Edo state PDP
apparatchiks on the Chief Judge are unnecessary, unwarranted and needless. We
call on the Edo state chapter of the PDP to apologise to the Chief Judge.
Abdul Mahmud, ESQ
President
Public
Interest Lawyers League (PILL).
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