2023 Election Court Diary: A monumental injustice when justice is not seen to be done – why the hearings should be broadcast
By Emmanuel Ogebe
As I prepared to depart Abuja for Washington, the most important thing on my mind was the proceedings I would miss a ringside view of.
My short stint in trial monitoring revealed the aged truism that a picture is worth a thousand words and the modern realism that a video is worth a thousand pictures!
Despite the best efforts of stealth bloggers detailing near word-for-word summaries on the ongoing proceedings, with the occasional snide commentary, (to the palpable irritation of the court which openly remonstrated “we see what you guys are posting – Some doing it are lawyers), it didn’t accurately capture the atmosphere in the court.
Worse still, the news coverage was limited and scant.
This nation is scary. I was in the court myself the day the Amazon IT witness testified that their servers were not down but I watched NTA news and they didn’t mention it.
What kind of deception is this for goodness sake?
Even 30 years ago when a High Court judge, Hon Justice Dolapo Akinsanya ruled that the Interim National Government was illegal, the only court judgment in Nigerian history that nullified a serving federal government, Nigeria’s NTA network reported it in the news. So why not now under an alleged democracy?
However to my surprise, my friends in Nigeria were shocked to hear I still watch NTA. They generously gave me the station details for Arise and Channels (420 and 416) and advised me to avoid NTA on Channel 419, no less. Someone has an unkind sense of humor in assigning that channel number…
The trial of Senator Ike Ekweremadu was broadcast in the British High Court where he was tried just months ago but despite the evolution of the court systems we inherited and adopted, we have failed to similarly advance.
READ ALSO: 2023 Election Court Diary: Daniel in the lions’ den – how PDP closed INEC’s defense in 3 hours (5)
It has even been pointed out that the Oputa panel into human rights abuses was televised for the whole nation to see as part of our national need for trauma healing and recovery from the brutish rule of the dictator who abducted and tortured me amongst others.
If it was that important then to air a judicial panel for a few victims, how much more important is it now for a judicial hearing of an election in which millions voted and which impacts 200 million people?
Governments must understand that they exist at the will of the people and that social contract requires and is reinforced by accountability and transparency.
The legislative and executive have constant media coverage and even dedicated shows but the judiciary is the only arm that shies from the media.
Yet for Nigeria to civilize and develop as a nation of laws, massive education on law is essential.
I recently argued with an army general who told me that the president is superior to the Supreme Court as we debated the currency colouration policy. The sad thing was that he turned out to have attended the National Defense University in Washington where I had been privileged on several occasions to have been a guest lecturer. If a U.S.-trained General does not know what a JSS 3 Government student knows, any wonder why we have a significantly huge population of educated illiterates in the corridors of power – having the form of learnedness but denying the power thereof.
Many years ago, I reached out to colleagues in the civil society to undertake an access to justice project which would “open” the judiciary to the public.
Through that initiative, the court of appeal declined to air the proceedings of the presidential election court but agreed to allow live broadcast of the judgment. All of this was achieved by civil society engaging administratively with the court and achieving a landmark collaboration in the first live national broadcast of this nature.
In this case, 15 years later, a formal application by multiple parties was denied by the court.
It is my hope that in the final addresses and judgment, the court will allow the nation to see and understand precisely the reasoning, arguments and evidence canvased and applied by five people in determining the votes of millions of people. This way our courts will not devolve into what an American jurisprudentialist called “the tyranny of an oligarchy.”
Days ago, a Brazilian court banned a former president from political participation for several years. I watched the broadcast on Channel 420.
A prominent judicial adage holds, “not only must justice be done, justice must be seen to be done.”
It is imperative that Nigerians see that justice is done in the courts because they have clearly not seen justice done by INEC in the elections.
- Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq, is a prominent US-based international human rights lawyer and Nigeria pro-democracy advocate with the US NIGERIA LAW GROUP in Washington. Last month, he marked the 27th anniversary of his abduction and torture by Gen. Abacha for demanding an investigation of the assassination of pro-democracy icon Kudirat Abiola over the June 12 election annulment. His advocacy led to the naming of Kudirat corner by Nigeria house in New York, the US designation of Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization and International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s determination of crimes against humanity in Nigeria amongst others.