Igini: Nigeria’s Judiciary Must Stop Being a Safe Haven For Politicians

The former Resident Electoral Commissioner of Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini has advised the Nigerian judiciary to discourage politicians from seeing them as a safe haven when things don’t go as they want. 

Mr. Igini, in an interview with ARISE NEWS, stated that the judiciary must be mindful of its place in the practice of democracy, urging them to take a cue from the United Kingdom’s judicial system.

He said “The most Important message this morning is that the judges, the Judiciary must be mindful of its place in the affairs of the society, particularly, in the practice of democracy”.

The former INEC REC said the election ought to have ended at the polling units, having no need for the long court processes. 

“The whole design of the innovations that we have been working on for years, particularly those provisions that were resisted for twenty years, that have now changed under the two thousand and twenty-two electoral act, were all intended to ensure that at the end of the election, the votes of the Nigerian people should be determined, finally and conclusively at the polling unit, not in the court of law” He said.

Mr. Igini also noted that as a result of the ongoing tribunal, most court cases that are politically unrelated are now placed on hold. 

“The implications of this are as follows which is the reason why I’m worried and I have been saying this over the years. As we speak today, because of the nature of the election petitions, all the judges that have now been selected to be in the tribunal, all their civil and criminal dockets are now on hold. 

“Cases that have been up for twenty years, fifteen years, as we speak now, are going to be on hold in abeyance for the next six months because the judges are on various tribunals

 He further stated that the outcome of the general election was not the expectation of the commission.

Chioma Kalu

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