Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Legal luminary, Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, has warned that litigants might be tempted to resort to self-help or other means to get justice if Government institutions deliberately continue to frustrate their efforts to get justice in the judiciary.
This is as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has vowed to appeal the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Court, PEPC, that upheld the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Uzoukwu who is Obi’s Lead Counsel gave the warning while reacting to the dismissal of Obi’s petition against President Tinubu by the PEPC.
He expressed disappointment over the way Government institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, colluded with politicians to frustrate efforts of litigants to get justice.
The legal colossus warned that the Nigeria jurisprudence might soon be totally destroyed if nothing was done to halt the on-going drift.
According to him, litigants that are dissatisfied with the outcome of an election, may resort to self help, if they continue to find it very difficult to establish their cases as a result of deliberate obstacles from government institutions.
“If we are not careful, our electoral jurisprudence will eventually disappear. I am saying this with every amount of sincerity because when the litigant, when those that contested election continue to find it very difficult to establish their cases due to obstacles on the way, starting by INEC, certainly they may resort to some other means of trying to get justice, which may not be lawful.”
Nonetheless, he commended the Tribunal for allowing the judgment proceedings to be transmitted live but argued that it would have been better to live-stream the trial stage also.
“I commend the Court of Appeal for introducing live streaming. You may recall that we applied to the court to have live streaming of all the proceedings, the court, in its wisdom, did not grant the application.
“But now, in the end, they saw wisdom in it and the need to guarantee transparency, hence, live streaming of the judgement.
“Certainly, it would have been better if it was live streaming of the entire proceedings so that the public will have the chance of watching and be able to relate properly with the judgment.
“So, I will hope and pray that this time, it will be continuous, starting from the beginning of a case.
“That is the only way that you can guarantee transparency because when something is open, Nigerians will see things for themselves and they will make up their minds, one way or the other.”
