By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Barely two weeks to the opening of the polls, former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Akwa Ibom state, Barrister Mike Igini fears the greatest threat to the 2023 general election is the judiciary following the conflicting judgements of the courts and tribunals in the run up to the elections.
Speaking on TVC nightly current affairs programme ‘Politics Today’ monitored by Prompt News on Wednesday, Igini said his greatest worry for the forthcoming general election is the expanding empire of Nigeria’s
courts.
According to him, the courts of the land have increasingly been dishing out conflicting judgements and even making pronouncement that negates the Provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, pointing out that except the judiciary distances itself from the manipulative tendencies of the corrupt politicians, the country’s polity will be messed up.
Said he: “I fear for my constituency, the judiciary. I say this because the greatest threat to the 2023 general election is the judiciary. Threats to the elections are not the scarcity of the redesigned Naira notes and fuel, no. The greatest threat to our elections is the judiciary, unfortunately”.
Igini who spoke on the topic: INEC, BVAS and the Polls, insists that against the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court judgement in the pre-elections matter especially the ruling which pronounced the incumbent Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the authentic candidate of Yobe North Senatorial seat as against Alhaji Bashir Machina who won the primary election supervised by INEC as well as the Osun State Governorship Tribunal ruling of an alleged over-voting are pointers to the bad decisions given by the courts.
“My greatest worry is the expanding empire of Nigeria’s courts. Judiciary in democracy is the most powerful arm of government but has now lost it, I may say because politicians now boast that what they lost in the ballot they can easily recover from the courts”, the former INEC top official posited.
The outspoken former REC also alleged that all the judges that are doing the bidding of the powers that be especially the politicians are those who are promoted to the higher courts of Nigeria just as he fears the bad eggs amongst the judges are being used by corrupt politicians to truncate the general election.
Igini who said he now speaks from the Office of the Citizen cannot phantom why somebody who did not participate in the election supervised by the electoral umpire (INEC) because he was somewhere participating in a different election will now be declared the winner of an election he was not part of.
Said he: “The Office of the Citizen is the most powerful office in sane climes. Also, in other democracies the Office of the Citizen is respected hence I am advising Nigerians to be ready for the upcoming elections. The battle ground is at the Polling Units, that is where the elections will be won or lost.
“The 2023 general election is election like no other, therefore the Citizens of Nigeria must take this opportunity to cast their votes for people they can hold accountable. Lamentations are over, time to effect a change for the better is now”, Igini admonished Nigerians.
He however argued that: “If you don’t fix the polity of the country, you can’t fix the economy hence I am appealing to the judiciary to be on the party of justice”.
