2019 Elections: Abubakar Atiku Vs. Muhammadu Buhari By: Abdulrasheed Ibrahim

Whenever the 2019 was mentioned before its arrival, what came to
the minds of many Nigerians was the 2019 General Elections
particularly the presidential election wherein it will be decided
whether the Nigerian electorates will renew President Muhammadu
Buhari’ s tenancy at the ASO ROCK VILLA for another four years or
they will send him packing.

Since PMB has indicated interest in the renewal of the tenancy,
the Nigerian people who are the real landlords will determine his
fate. PMB is not the only one interested in the occupation of the
ASO ROCK VILLA, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku , former Vice President to
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007 is equally
interested.

There is no doubt in my mind that this year presidential
election is going to be one of the most interesting presidential
races in the history of this country. From 1999 when the country
returned to democracy, People Democratic Party (PDP) was in power
and boasted that it would be there for 60 years. This was not to be
as it suffered a defeat in the hands of political parties that came
together to form All Progressive Congress (APC) for the 2015
General Elections. Before the defeat of PDP, it witnessed a great
exodus of some of its prominent members to the then newly formed
political party. By the time the result of that presidential
election was released by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) with General Muhammadu Buhari of APC scoring
15,424,921 votes while Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of PDP scored
12,853,162, the ruling PDP was already sent packing from power and
found itself in the opposition. The 2015 election result reminds us
of the controversial FEDECO’s 1979 Presidential election result
where Alhaji Shehu Shagari of National Party of Nigeria (NPN)
scored 5,688,657 while Chief Obafemi Awolwo of the Unity Party of
Nigeria (UPN) scored 4,916,651. Unlike the late Chief Awolowo that
went to court to challenge the election result, Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan did the rare thing in African politics by accepting the
defeat.

With the exodus of the PDP politicians to the APC and its
subsequent victory over the PDP, the struggle for power and
supremacy among the estranged politicians who found themselves in
the same ship became an issue .The voyage was never a comfortable
one and some had to disembark. Like what happened when the PDP was
in power with the emergence of the New PDP (nPDP) so was the
emergence the Renewed All Progressive Congress (rAPC) when APC is
in power and control. In African politics, most times politics is
not about service to the people but service to the politicians’
selfish interest. To politicians in Africa, politics is the most
lucrative business and if one political party seems not to be
protecting his interest why must he continuing staying in that
party? That is a typical African politician for you.

PDP having not be comfortable being in the opposition for close
to four years is now determined to wrestle power for the ruling
APC. To show its seriousness, it paraded the highest number of the
presidential aspirants that contested in its party’s primary
election. Virtually all its prominent members that had earlier
abandoned it for APC found their way back to the PDP. The battle to
pick the PDP flag bearer for the 2019 presidential election was
fought for by nearly 20 aspirants with Atiku scoring 1532 votes,
Tambuwal 693, Saraki 317 Kwakwaso 158 and Dankwabo 111 . With the
emergence of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku as the PDP flag bearer for the
presidential election, he is now to lock horns on with President
Muhammadu Buhari the sole presidential candidate of the APC.

With the countdown to the general elections, the stage is now
set for the great electoral battle between Atiku of PDP and Buhari
of APC. Unlike other previous presidential elections in the
country, this particular one will be very interesting in the sense
that the two candidates apart from being from the North are equally
both Muslims. Unlike for instance the 1979 and 2015 presidential
elections when a Northern ran the race against a Southern, this
time around, it is going to be a Northern running the race against
another Northern. Atiku having kicked off his presidential campaign
in Sokoto State and Buhari in the Akwa Ibom State, the stage is now
set for the big electoral race of all times.

We must at this stage advise the politicians that in go about
their political campaign they need to display the highest sense of
maturity and not to see the race as do or die affairs .To borrow
from the words of one of our great late Supreme Court Jurists, Hon.
Justice Pat-Acholonu in the case BUHARI Vs. OBASANJO (2005) ALLFWLR
(Pt 273) Pg. 203:

“Politics in Nigeria should not be a do or die affair. Anyone
without profession except politics must have nothing to do with
politics in whatever form. Above all let the budding politicians
should leave jobless people who now turn into thugs as supporters
alone, so that more harm will not be done to the electoral
processes.”

We unfortunate live in the part of the world where politics is
seen as a do or die affairs. Rather than politicians addressing
issues on how they intend to improve on the welfare of the
electorates when they get to power, they will resort to character
assassinations during their campaigns or political rallies. A lot
of predictions have been flying on here and there specially on the
social media on who will win or lose the elections. My personal
attitude to those kinds of predictions is that those soothsayers
should allow us to wait for the outcome of the elections.
Predicting the winner or loser before the election is like trying
to play God, the Omniscience.

Whether Buhari will succeed in retaining the ASO ROCK VILLA’s
key or will be sacked and sent packing by the electorates for Atiku
in the forthcoming presidential election is the question to be
answered to the Nigerian electorates with the permanent voter
cards. Whichever way the election result goes the loser must
display the spirit of sportsmanship by congratulating the winner as
done by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan after the 2015 presidential election.
God bless Nigeria.

LEARNED SILK’S ENDLESS ARGUMENT

Chief Mike Ozekhome, a learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria has
been very passionate about arguing his point against the validity
of the Section 396 (7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice
Act. The learned silk has so far done series of articles on this
subject raging from parts one to three .On the last count , I
discovered that the argument is yet to come to an end. In two
different articles titled SITTING OF JUDGES: DISAGREEING WITH A
LEARNED SENIOR ADVOCATE and ELEVATED JUDGES: WHAT IS THE ARGUMENT
ON THE OTHER SIDE? I have done a rebuttal to the issue in question.
What prompted this present reaction is that upon reading the part
three of the learned silk’s argument, I observed that this issue is
being blown out of proportion and over flogged. Chief Ozekhome’s
school of thought is still trying to convince us that the said
provision is unconstitutional citing several case authorities that
am of the view are grossly misconceived and irrelevant to the issue
at stake. This is a very good instance where one will even
appreciate the intervention of the Supreme Court when the occasion
arises so that the issue can be put to rest once and for all.

Any court of law particularly the Apex Court in the land decides
cases base on the facts and the laws in existence. The question we
need to ask is that : why are the existing Laws or Rules of courts
being amended? Let us take for instance the Tenancy Law of Lagos
State 2011 where it is now the law by Section 13 (4) that in the
absence of express agreement between the landlord and the tenant a
Notice to Quit does not necessarily need to determine or terminate
a yearly tenancy at the anniversary or current term of the tenancy.
This is a clear deviation from the celebrated case of AFRICAN
PETROLEUM LTD Vs. OWODUNNI (1991) 8 NWLR where the Supreme Court
held that yearly tenancy should terminate at the anniversary of the
tenancy. What brought about the change in Lagos State? In tenancy
matter in the past, this Supreme Court authority was used as an
instrument to frustrate several tenancy matters as any Writ of
Summon for Possession whose accompanying Notice to quit did not
determine the yearly tenancy at its anniversary then was a dead
case at the end of the trial. Section 13 (4) of Tenancy Law of
Lagos State 2011 as it is today has changed the situation. Any
lawyer in Lagos State now trying to argue against this Section on
the authority of AFRICAN PETROLEUM LTD Vs. OWODUNNI (supra) will
only be chasing shadow.

Why changing the Rules of courts? Lagos State as our case study
in 2004 introduced frontloading regime to the civil litigation
practice procedure and same was embraced by other courts in the
Federation. About eight years later the Rules was amended to become
2012 Rules and now 2019 Rules is in the pipeline. Other courts are
equally amending their Rules from time to time with the view to
checkmate the incessant delay in the dispensation of justice. The
1999 Constitution itself is undergoing series of amendment. As we
have said before, arguing against Section 396 (7) of the ACJA as it
is presently is tantamount to clamouring for the retention of the
old order that has not add value to the quick dispensation of
criminal justice as well as revolting against genuine innovation
and revolution. If you as a lawyer is convinced by the argument of
the Chief Ozekhome’s school of thought, their argument does not
appeal to me in the least as by their contention, the law should
stand still while the rest of the world goes on. To me that will be
bad for our criminal judicial system. The law must continue to
develop rather than being static. In this age of technology, should
we allow to be dragged back to the Stone Age?

REMARKABLE PRONOUNCEMENT ON DETERMINATION OF
TENANCY

“I would wish to make an observation. The defendant’s employment
with the plaintiff was terminated on the 24th of November, 1977.
Since then, that is for a period of fourteen years, the defendant
has remained in possession of the premises he occupied essentially
by reason of his employment with the plaintiff. The plaintiff has
all through, by itself and through its counsel, tried to get him
out of the premises. But he still lives there. Since counsel came
into the matter some twelve years ago, eight different notices to
quit or of intention to go to court have been issued and on two
occasions notices issued and served have been cancelled apparently
to enable counsel to begin properly. But once more the plaintiff
must fail again because of its failure to serve correct and proper
notices. This is sad. The law, it has been said, is an ass. And the
unruly ass must keep galloping along so long as litigants refuse to
follow simple rules clearly laid down by statute. This is of the
very nature of justice according to law; and the courts must take
the blame! Be that as it may, the two courts below were right to
have held the defendant’s tenancy had not been determined according
to law, and that the defendant would remain in possession until
that is done.”

Per NNAEMEKA – AGU, JSC in African Petroleum Ltd Vs. Owodunni
(2004) ALL FWLR (Pt. 208) Pgs. 798-799 Paras H, A – B

THE SETTLED PRINCIPLE OF LAW

On what is required in the determination of election winner

“The position of the law is now clear that where the principal
issue is the determination of who between the petitioner and the
respondent scored the majority of lawful votes cast at the
election, that issue is not one that requires a proof beyond
reasonable doubt, but proof on the balance of convenience is
sufficient in such cases.”

See Alalade Vs. Adewoyin (1999) 5 NWLR (Pt. 604) 529 at 537-538;
Omoboriowo Vs. Ajasin (1984) 1 SCNJ 108 at 121-122; HASHIDU Vs.
GOJE (2004) ALL FWLR (Pt. 228) Pg. 685 Paras B-C

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