Abdulhameed A. Ujo
The recent judgment of Justice AdeniyiAdemola of the Federal High Court Abuja nullifying the defection of 37 members from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to all the All Progressives Congress (APC) has brought to fore the role of the judiciary in a democratic system of government. This decision has come after another judgement in a case of defecting senators. The judgement in the latter is different from that of the former. This judgement has raised serious question on the role of the judiciary, especially, on litigations affecting politicians. This is against the recent indictment of some judges by the National Judicial Council (NJC).
The debate on the judgement can be evaluated from three perspectives. The first one is that of politicians. The two major political parties concerned with the issue are the PDP and the APC. The view of either party is based on partisan consideration. That is why the PDP has hailed the judgment as a landmark decision likely to promote the democratization of Nigeria. On the other hand, the APC viewed it as a miscarriage of justice and hasappealed to a higher court. As expected in a democratic political system either party has the right to project and promote its interest on any issue. What usually happens at this level is propaganda for the party.
This is unlike the second perspective which is based on the appropriate legal interpretation. The parties went to the judiciary to seek correct legal interpretation of the relevant provisions of the law. There are certain things that must be done by the party seeking redress to ensure proper interpretation. In this instance, the prayer of the PDP is for the court to make an order to prevent the House of Representatives from removing its leaders. This prayer was granted and the judge deprivedaffected members of their constitutional powers of some of their legislative functions. Some observers have interpreted the judgement to include declaring their seats vacant. Does the judge have the power to perform this function? This takes us to the third perspective which is the political dimension.
The relevant provision on this issue in the 1999 Constitution is clear. Political functions are shared among the three branches of government. The Constitution does not make any provision for any branch of government including the judiciary to deprive another branch of its function. The purpose of Separation of Powers as postulated by Baron Montesquieu is to avoid the abuse of powers. Additional safeguard is provided by the Principles of Checks and Balances. According to Federalist papers, government is not by angels; it is by human beings who have ambition. The Principles of Checks and Balances is expected to provide rules which are meant to check ambition with ambition. The importance of this provision is the reason why it is in the Constitution which cannot be easily amended.
The second aspect of the discussion which relates to constitutional interpretation is about the fundamental right of individuals to join and decamp from political associations. The relevant provision to this issue is clear. Every citizen ofNigeria has the right to join and decamp from any political association. The right is inalienable and cannot be deprived unless under specific conditions through due process. Any Act or Subsidiary Law of a political party which is contrary to the provision of the Constitution is wrong, null and void.
The provision in the Constitution of the PDP that decamping is only allowed if there is a division in the party is administrative, such interpretations are usually subjective. This, notwithstanding, how can we view, the walk-out of the G7 Governors in the Convention of the PDP in 2013; on which side of the divide are former PDP leaders like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar, Chief Audu Ogbe, Adamu Ciroma, Abdullahi Adamu, Kawu Baraje and others.
Related to constitutional interpretation is the social context. A good judgement should take into consideration development in the wider evolving value. The judiciary must interpret the law in the direction of the wind of change.
It could be argued that the numberof people who have decamped into or out of the various political parties is in their thousands. It has become a political reality of Nigeria thatjudges, especially those that are intellectually-inclined, should develop creative interpretation of the law as was done in the United States by Justice Marshall which gave birth to a major principle in jurisprudence. Laws are made to regulate the behaviour of human beings. Such laws are subject to re-interpretation in relation to changes in the value system. Nigerianjudiciary should put its acts together and avoid the embarrassment of contradictory judgements and return to the old days of Justice Ikpeme and the midnight judgment.
