As the governorship election tussle in Benue State of Nigeria continues to generate controversy, a United States-based human rights group, Justice for Nigeria (JN), has petitioned the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the National Judicial Council (NJC) to make sure that the matter is not manipulated in a way that could impugn the integrity and reputation of the judiciary.
In the letter, a copy which was made available to journalists in New York at the end of the National Executive Council’s meeting of the rights group, made up of Nigerian lawyers in the Diaspora, the CJN, the group urged the leaderships of the NJC and NBA to ensure that the rule of law was followed in the ongoing legal tussle over the governorship post in Benue State.
Signed by the National coordinator of the group, Barrister Isah Mohammed, the letter read in part: “Sir, the expiration of the stated 180 days should be followed as long as this is clearly made known in the Electoral Act of the country. We want to state that failure by the judiciary to respect this Act will lay down a foundation that may easily throw the country to legal problems in the future.”
The group advised that the tussle be allowed to die a natural death since the opposition party was unable to meet up with the duration requirement of the constitution.
The group also called on the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, to ensure that the newly constituted Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi was disbanded, saying that it lacked the right to retry a case already struck out on technicalities.
The group further remarked that Nigeria had been blacklisted in the past by the international community as a lawless country where the leaders easily contravened the constitution, noting that timely actions by the judicial authorities on this issue would assist the country to regain its integrity.
“The argument of the opposition party – that the technicalities involved in the legal tussle between Governor Gabriel Suswam and our dear friend, Professor Steve Ugbah, who lives among us in the United States,? should be ignored by the Election Petition Tribunal – is baseless and political.