Nigeria’s Tribunals Raise the Commoners' Hope

It began with the governors, then the Senate President and it seems the election petition tribunals all over Nigeria have embarked on a revolution of some sort. It was previously an anathema to rule against the party in power. Nigerian judges appear to have suddenly realized they had the constitutional right to differ. Whatever it is, however, Nigeria is the winner. I had delayed this post hoping the presidential election tribunal would follow but ….
While I do not agree with all the tribunal judgments, or reasons for ruling the way they did, the very fact that they are overturning election results is admirable, especially in a country where election process is more of selection by the privileged. You are a winner if the leaders of the ruling party give their blessing. The incontrovertible truth remains the 2007 elections ware a display of shame by the electoral commission and the political parties.
I do not particularly care about any of the politicians or their parties, not Buhari, not Atiku, not Yar’Adua. In fact none of them strike me as ideal presidential material; not with Atiku’s controversial involvement with Obasanjo and the shady contract deals they accused each other of. Definitely not the quartermaster image of Buhari or the weakling portrayed by Yar’Adua appeal to me.
What the tribunals have done of recent confirms what election observers said after the polls, that they were flawed. The tribunals have given the masses hope, hope in the polity that has eluded the common Nigerian for decades. The aggrieved can now hope for equity when he gets to the courts. The aggrieved will now be more willing to avail himself of the judicial avenue to settle scores. And we can only hope that this momentum never dies.
The tribunals have also signaled to those in power that the manipulation of the system cannot be without limits. What remains is to entrench these bold steps in every facet of Nigerian life. And the job should not be left to the judiciary alone. We still need a political reform built on reorientation of the people and the system to ensure that such widespread manipulation of the process, as seen last year never happens again. A reorientation is necessary to erase the mentality that “ winning at all costs” from the minds of politicians and their supporters.
The novelty of government is in its dynamism ensured by the peoples’ right to change their leadership when the leaders fail. Nigeria is yet to get there but it is moving.