By NAN
An apex sicio-political civil society pressure group, the Nigeria Civil Society’s Alliance for Democratic Change (NCSADC), has berated the unenforceable and ambiguous court ruling recently given by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the group’s Northern Coordinator, Comrade Abdulmumini Abdulsalami, the vintage civil society group said it cited, reviewed, and disagreed with the July 4th double-mouthed ruling handed down by Justice Binta Nyako in the case of Senator Natasha Uduaghan-Akpoti and Senate President Godswill Akpabio in which the latter illegally suspended the former.
According to the group; “the world must be reminded that Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court grossly erred by handing an ambiguous and unjust ruling that stands logic, common sense, and legal practice on their heads”. The group further warned that “Nigeria’s democracy would continue to lose its constitutional flavor, thrust of rule of law, and proper navigation if some of its reverred Judges continue to fail in their duties to always give proper, unbiased, fair and clear judgements, especially in sensitive political cases brought before the learned Members of the 5th Realm of the Judiciary for judicial enforcement, interpretation or remedy”.
The group noted that many Nigerians expressed both disgust and surprise at the double-faced behavior of Justice Nyako, given that she handed a judgement in favour of both parties and against both parties at the same time in a case in which a complainant sought a clear and unambiguous remedy against an illegal, unconstitutional and protracted suspension, as an elected legislator, against the President of the Senate who is not better than a fellow and equal colleague expected to preside over the Senate based on the extant provisions of the laws of the federation.
The group rhetorically asked; “didn’t this pass as one of the most ridiculous judgments in this current administration for Senator Natasha to be asked to pay a fine (sic) and apologize (sic) to a vindictive and overreaching Senate President Godswill Akpabio who clearly went against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as the Senate Rules by illegally suspending and heavily punishing a colleague, Senator Natasha, over alleged breach (sic) of the Senate’s sitting arrangement, and also for her subsequent refusal to be humiliated through a public apology to the same Senator Akpabio who illegally took away her fundamental right to representation, human dignity and privileges”.
The group labelled the judgement as “a questionable judicial pronouncement, given that it ridiculously approbated in favour of Senator Akpabio (for imposing unnecessary fine and publicized apology upon the victim/complainant) and reprobated in favour of Senator Natasha (by criticizing the respondent’s suspension as excessive and unnecessary, but fell short of express order for recall) at the same time over a sensitive parliamentary case that has clear and settled precedents in the 8th and 9th Senate respectively. This is nothing but an unacceptable judicial subterfuge that must be frowned at by all true democrats”.
In the same breath, the Southern Coordinator of the group, Comrade Victor Ojei, noted thus; “the unfortunate ugliness of the ruling came to the fore, as a clear miscarriage of justice, when last week Tuesday Senator Natasha attempted to resume plenary in enforcement of her constitutional right, against the backdrop of the approbative and reprobative contexts of the judgement. As expected, however, some armed and overzealous security agents, acting on Senate President’s instruction, rudely blocked her passage to the plenary, citing unrealistic conditions given under the same unenforceable and ambiguous judgement of the Federal High Court. This was a very unfortunate spectacle for the Nigerian democracy”.
Consequently, the group advised Nigerian Judges and Members of the 5th Realm of the Judiciary to eschew unfair and biased practices in dealing with political and constitutional cases to avoid dragging their names in the mud, especially when such cases enjoy the comfort of clear and settled precedents. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)