"PDP fumes as Supreme Court sacks Ihedioha, declares Uzodinma winner"
(Source: Punch Newspapers)
Commentary
"A wise man will not be
in a hurry to lick from a hot soup"
So says a proverb
from the Yoruba people of South West
Nigeria.
Now that a month has passed
since the Supreme Court's landmark
judgement in the Imo's* Gubernatorial appeal
We can now ask those jurisprudential questions.
Some of us have argued
that the classical hearsay rule needs to be
relaxed in electoral litigation
And that the Court must not be constrained
to only evidence of party agents
But to a wider spectrum of witnesses
With the Court deciding on the weight
of their submission.
The Uzodinma's case deals with exclusion of votes
So will it be justice, if politicians create violence
in polling wards they know they can't win,
leaving INEC to cancel the results?
And thus votes excluded for the stronger candidate
in such wards?
Will it be justice, when politicians
run under the Hearsay rule
anytime a less costly way
of proving ward to ward electoral question
is utilized?
Why can't election observers, for instance
be called as witnesses
Must we continue to insist on party agents
from all wards being called?
The Courts must see through all these charades
And do justice, even if the heaven fall
Our electoral law needs reform
And the Supreme Court has just
bell the cat in this regard.
in a hurry to lick from a hot soup"
So says a proverb
from the Yoruba people of South West
Nigeria.
Now that a month has passed
since the Supreme Court's landmark
judgement in the Imo's* Gubernatorial appeal
We can now ask those jurisprudential questions.
Some of us have argued
that the classical hearsay rule needs to be
relaxed in electoral litigation
And that the Court must not be constrained
to only evidence of party agents
But to a wider spectrum of witnesses
With the Court deciding on the weight
of their submission.
The Uzodinma's case deals with exclusion of votes
So will it be justice, if politicians create violence
in polling wards they know they can't win,
leaving INEC to cancel the results?
And thus votes excluded for the stronger candidate
in such wards?
Will it be justice, when politicians
run under the Hearsay rule
anytime a less costly way
of proving ward to ward electoral question
is utilized?
Why can't election observers, for instance
be called as witnesses
Must we continue to insist on party agents
from all wards being called?
The Courts must see through all these charades
And do justice, even if the heaven fall
Our electoral law needs reform
And the Supreme Court has just
bell the cat in this regard.
Felix Omosele
(c) February 2020
(c) February 2020
PS. Thanks to Olakunle Olanrewaju for providing me with copies of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court judgement in the case.
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