The Article About Nothing.

The Nigerian Judiciary; A problem of Perception:

So, early this morning, I watched as Solomon Edoja, the Political Adviser of the APC campaign organization in Delta State expectedly castigated the judgment of the Delta State Election Petition Tribunal on Channels Television flagship programme, 'Sunrise Daily'.
These days, the Judiciary has become the most available culprit when politicians make excuses for their failures and inability to sell themselves. Everybody who loses a matter in court will always make one claim or the other, undermining the impartiality of the judiciary.
This very disturbing trend appeared to have risen to hitherto unattained heights especially with the judgements of the respective election petition Tribunals in Akwa-Ibom and Rivers State with the usual suspect, Ayo Fayose, criticizing the decision of the courts in these two states, whilst clearly stating that the President is 'influencing' the decision of the courts.
Next to criticize was the mouthpiece of the PDP, Mr Olisa Metuh but the most weighty statement which further cast the Judiciary in bad light was the Statement of the main victim of the Tribunal's Judgement in Rivers, Nyesom Wike, where he accused the APC of bribing the Tribunal with 23 Billion Naira to subvert the cause of justice.
Perhaps, it would not be wrong to say that we all are guilty of having that feeling of entitlement to things being done our ways, hence, when the court rules against us, the easiest conclusion we arrive at is that the Court's decision was influenced by the other party without remembering that the court weighs the arguments of both parties before arriving at a conclusion which they feel is right.
For me the idea of always wanting things done your way smirks of childishness or immaturity, which has to be dealt with.
Back to the decision of the Tribunal in these states, those who felt hard done have tried shamelessly to damage the reputation of the Nigerian judiciary by their very damaging views without giving a hoot about the ratio for the decisions. All they lay claim to is the feeling of entitlement they have towards the control of Rivers and Akwa-Ibom States, and the fact that these states must not go into the hands of the APC. To them, any judgement against them as regards who governs these states came as a result of Presidential or monetary influence.
It is saddening that at this level of our political development when a certain level of sophistication is expected from us, we go about peddling childishness and senselessness. In an ideal setting, the option of appeal which is available to anybody who is not satisfied by the court's judgement would be fully maximized but here, instead of appealing to a higher court, we appeal to the court of the beer parlour.
Granted, our court system may not be perfect, but which country's court system is perfect anyways? but instead of helping grow and elevate our judiciary to a level of independence and impartiality, we would rather make frivolous claims with the sole aim of saying that the decision must be favourable to us before it can be called just.
My advise to all and sundry is that we must develop the a culture of laws whereby, if we feel the scale of justice did not favour us, we simply adopt the legal option instead of engaging in careless talks with the sole purpose of undermining the impartiality and independence of the courts because the justification of a court's ruling and judgement should not be dependent on our sentiments but on what is right and just.