According to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s democracy is most threatened by the judiciary.
Atiku was one of the panellists at a national conference on bolstering Nigerian democracy held Monday in Abuja by the National Peace Committee (NPC), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (Centre LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA).
The politician participated in a discussion of Prof. Bayo Olukoshi’s paper, “Party Politics and Political Integrity: The Role of Political Parties and Opposition in Democracy.”
He claimed that the reforms intended to reduce judicial irresponsibility have not succeeded.
“That needs to be altered. The judiciary that upheld parties’ dominance in selecting candidates and leaders today condones and even encourages the dissolution of parties by a select few and occasionally by a single person with a personal agenda.
Additionally, it appears that the judiciary has taken the place of voters in selecting our leaders. The goal of the judiciary’s involvement in election disputes was to uphold voters’ decisions. However, rather than upholding the choices made by the electorate, the judiciary, even at the highest levels, tries to find technicalities to deny them.
“I’ve studied enough history to realise that the judiciary and its leadership may not always be left standing when democracy collapses.
“The presence of strong, independent justices was a major factor in the judiciary’s survival during the collapse or death of our First Republic democracy. It wasn’t a pointless attempt. But the judiciary quickly followed as corruption spread across our society. And because the resentful have nowhere else to go, it is possibly the most dangerous,” he said.
Atiku claimed that no one was in place to restrain the other branches of government from going too far.
“Our parties and our democracy are unlikely to survive if the corruption in our judiciary continues without serious repercussions for those responsible.”
Nigerian democracy, he contended, is at a turning point.
“Simply put, there is a chance that it will erode entirely. Furthermore, it cannot be attributed to a single individual or administration. “Over the years, several of us have been warning that we may come to this pass if we lose our vigilance and fail to take corrective actions to protect and deepen our democracy,” he said.
The former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party said that he is the only leader who has taken the lead in advancing democracy.
“At the risk of coming across as humble, I doubt that many senior political leaders in our country today have done more to advance democratic governance and spoken out than I have,” he remarked.
“Along with making speeches and public declarations, I also took some cases to our courts, which resulted in significant rulings meant to support democratic values and customs.
“I was forced to make some of that effort because of political struggles.” My involvement with other leaders in the fight to remove the military from power and my strong and unwavering conviction that democracy is the best path to progress and unification for our diverse nation and its peoples, however, were the main drivers of my efforts.”
