- A Liquidated judgement could Spell Adverse Consequences as Lost of Confidence by the Judiciary Could Lead to Anarchy, injustice which are criteria for Military Coups–ex APC Minister Warns.
By Mark Mayah
Barr Solomon Dalung is a Plateau State born lawyer, an activist and former Sports Minister under former president Muhammadu Buhari’s first tenure.
In this interview with Select Journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Barr. Solomon Dalung warns that:
“The judiciary should be in a position to restore the confidence of the people which is fast waning off, so if the judiciary failed on electoral matters then it cannot be trusted with any other matter so the rule of anarchy will replace the confidence of the people and so on issues which the judiciary would have been given the opportunity to make pronouncement, that loss of confidence will set in..
“I am not an advocate of the military coup but am an advocate of justice. However, military coups will come against injustice, because the military coups are against injustice”.
“Leaders who love democracy must do justice to advert ugly consequences.
I advise them not to fan the embers of discord and plunge Nigeria into preventable anarchy”.
Read the full interview:
We sighted your showcase at this year’s Tarok social cultural festival. What moral is this portraying to the outside world especially as it regards the unity of the Middle Belt struggle?
Dalung: We have enormous ethnic nationalities in the middle belt if you look at it from the perspective of religion. All the major religions are well represented but there is no single religion that will lay claim to the nation’s traditional religion.
Are you satisfied with the voting pattern of the Middle Belt in the last general election for instance?
Dalung: The middle belt has a significant followers so the voting pattern of the middle belt present the egalitarian nature of the people, our basic social system are built on the tenet of freedom, our cultural institutions are built on freedom our systems are built around localism were you have leadership that represents the wings and caprices of the people.
Take Benue state for instance, were you disappointed at the outcome of the election results which were different from that of Nasarawa, Plateau and the FCT even against the clarion call by the Middle Belt Forum?
Dalung: If you look at what happened in Benue state in last February 25th, it has happened before in 1979 were the entire region decided to toll the pride of opposition politics but Benue went with the National Party of Nigeria, NPN in 1979/83 so what happened in Benue is not new, it’s not an issue of disappointment they have just replicated what they did in the past which is trying to find their bearings than national qualities whether, that is an issue of debate and whether as it is now it will pay off is also debatable because having Sen George Akume as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, rather seems to look like the issue of insecurity and killings have been compounded. So it wasn’t like because ex Governor Samuel Ortom was in that position that was why the federal government did not give much attention, now the killings is still going on in Benue even under an APC government of Fr Hycinth Alia with Sen Akume as the federal government scribe.
Let’s have your perspective on the last Wednesday, September 6th judgement. As a lawyer and an ex-minister under the ruling APC, does the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT bring the expected justice to the opposition?
The judgment failed short of my expectation just like many other Nigerians because there were issues that were canvased at the tribunal. The reasonse given by the tribunal failed woefully to meeting my own expectation as a lawyer especially, the issue of the 25 percent in the FCT. I disagree with my lord justices in all their reasoning about the 25 percent and even their attempt to input extraneous interpretation to a very clear condition of the constitution was also misleading.
I listened to the tribunal’s judgment and the entire attempt to justify their verdict which to some extent failed in every standard. If not checked by the Supreme Court, this judgment will amend the constitution of Nigeria and the Supreme Court must intervene because the court is supposed to interpret the constitution not to amend it. For the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, this judgment has attempt to amend the constitution by disregarding the provision of section 132 of Nigeria Constitution in declaring a winner, so I am not satisfied but this is the area which I look forward to having a better interpretation by the Supreme Court. I will not be in the position to call for a reversal but it is also possible that the Supreme Court will reverse some of the rulings in the court of appeal so I will not discourage the petitioners not to appeal against judgement.
Won’t this heat up the system thus delaying development at the expected speed for good governance?
Dalung: The petitioners went to court not because they are desperate to become winners. They are testing the amended electoral process because what goes round comes around. They want the sanctity of our electoral guidelines as stipulated in the amended Electoral Act diligently followed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC because after this process, we are still going to the future to have so many other processes coming up so if they end here they will deny Nigerians the opportunity to stand and say ‘we are disappointed by the judiciary’, because if this matter is not run to its legal conclusion because whatever statement opinion you will hold about the judiciary may just be a mere speculation. So we will wait for the final judgement at the apex court of the land.
I will encourage all of them to appeal to the Supreme Court and let us listen to the Supreme Court justices on some of the disappointments by Nigerians and the loss of confidence being expressed by the over fourteen million Nigerians that voted against the ruling APC in the last presidential election.
It is a cause to be worried and that is a very serious threat to the survival of our democracy. The judiciary should be in a position to restore the confidence of the people so if the judiciary fails in electoral matters then it cannot be trusted with any other matter so the rule of anarchy will replace the confidence of the people. So, on the issues which the judiciary would have been given the opportunity to make pronouncement, that loss of confidence could lead to anarchy.
They should restore the confidence in the people or they will liquidate that confidence and the country will start drifting into anarchy. A great philosopher once said those who want peaceful change impossible makes violent change inevitable. Violent change is an option that cannot be stopped.
Take a look at what happened in Gabon when the military struck immediately after a discredited election. This is still very handy. Am not an advocate of military coup but am an advocate of justice. Military coups will come against injustice, because the military coups are against injustice.
Leaders who love democracy must do justice to advert ugly consequences. The man in Gabon, deposed President Ali Bongo was over thrown and was calling people to make noise and the people actually made the noise and he heard their noise that he has over stayed his welcome, two terms after his father’s totalling fifty six years on the throne. This lesson must be learned by all political actors in Nigeria .
What is the way forward then?
I will advise them not to fan the embers of discord and plunge Nigeria into preventable anarchy. The petitioners going to the Supreme Court is not going to affect or whittle down the tension.
My kind advice to President Bola Tinubu is that a human face could have been introduced before the full implement of his subsidy removal.
Removal of subsidy from day one when he was yet fully brief was ill advised.
We are told that our daily consumption is 70 million litres per day which is fabrication. Our daily consumption is less than 30 million per a litres in a day. Now it means if they introduce a fifty percent subsidy for the first six months, the pump Price per a litre could go back to #200/a litre while the revenue generated from the 70 will be used in the rehabilitation of our refineries and get the system stabilize.
The 50 percent subsidy will stimulate allied and agro industries required for the boosting of the economy.
The 50 percent per subsidy be introduced for just six months.
Fund should have been reinvested on fixing our maribond refineries and provission of palliatives within this six months thereafter before the subsidy removal would have been an ideal not the other way around.
Anything short of this, it is aimed at crashing the economy which is exactly what is currently happening.
