Learning From History: Omoboriowo/Ajasin imbroglio in Ondo

In a recent intervention on ‘Targeted judicial reforms and enhanced judicial integrity in post-election litigation’, the columnist, Farooq Kperogi, made some profound observatnions and recommendations towards sanitizing the nation’s political system, with particular reference to the oddity whereby the judiciary that is supposed to be the bulwark of democracy is now the albatross.

According to him, the courts have become the graveyards of electoral mandates which is an aberration in a democracy, noting further that what we now have in the country is judicial coups, whereby judicial or legal processes are deployed to subvert the choice of the electorate or to unfairly change the power structure of an existing government.

Kperogi declared: “In other words, a judicial coup occurs when the courts are used to achieve political ends that would not be possible through standard political processes. In a judicial coup, the courts make rulings or interpretations of the law that drastically alter the balance of power, often favoring a particular political group or leader.

“This can include invalidating election results, removing elected officials from office, altering the constitution through interpretive tyranny or other significant legal actions that have profound political implications.”

Issuing from the above salient words of the columnist is the need for the collective of the Nigerian people to take a second look at ourselves in the mirror and think soberly about the prevailing political scenario where the judiciary is now in the eye of the storm.

The judiciary is often said to be the last hope of the common man, but I doubt if this is realistic anymore. The common phrase “go to court” is now a metaphor denoting the futility of seeking redress in our courts. Yet, we must not lose hope. It is the responsibility of the citizens to speak up and be heard. Otherwise, tyranny and authoritarianism become the order of the day.

However, the government must be careful about such evolving development in our political system because of the inherent danger to peace and security and overall national stability even in a fragile polity still beclouded and truly buffeted by many years of unresolved threats to nationhood.

Of course, a major concern in this situation which must be of interest to all patriots and government is the prevalence of injustice as perceivably being widely orchestrated by a political class who think or believe they are above the rule of law and constitutionalism. Therefore, the nation’s leadership must necessarily look beyond “political interests” and find a realistic answer especially to those judicial problems that are political in nature.

It is in this regard that we have to situate the recent protests that trailed the various court pronouncements that have invalidated so many elections across the country. From Nasarawa to Zamfara to Plateau and Kano states in particular, the voices of the people are resonating with Kperogi’s thesis of judicial coup. The issue is not about the odd powers of the courts to make such pronouncements alone but that they were made based on what is now referred to as “judicial technicalities”.

In essence, these pronouncements by the courts are seen by the victims as unfair, biased, illogical and patently flimsy, designed to rob them of their hard-earned victories at the polls. Indeed, it is a rationale debate that where there is no justice, there can be no peace, and this is food for thought as the nation must begin in earnest the process of instituting some well-articulated electoral and judicial reforms in the country.

Lest we forget that such aberrations in a democracy where the courts are the ones dictating winners of elections rather than the people in a democratic process, is laden with danger and it is of necessity that we learn from history.

One pertinent instance here was the Omoboriowo/Ajasin imbroglio that rocked Ondo State in the Second Republic. In 1979, Ajasin’s UPN had won the state with 94.50 per cent of the votes leaving the other political parties NPN, NPP, GNPP and PRP to share the remaining five per cent. Of the 66 Ondo State House of Assembly seats, UPN won 65 leaving the NPN with only one seat. However, the scenario changed so dramatically in the 1983 election where at the collation centre, FEDECO returning officers informed the parties that only the results recorded on the “prescribed form” as directed from above would be admissible. At the end of the day, this was how Chief Adekunle Ajasin of the UPN, flagbearer of a dominant party in Ondo State, was allocated 1,015,385 votes as against Chief Akin Omoboriowo of the NPN’s 1,288,981 and expectedly, the state went up in flames. Critical to this historic reminder was the fact that this episode led to the collapse of the Second Republic following the military putsch that overthrew that republic.

The object lesson here is the fundamental essence of a true leadership that must necessarily manage the nation’s unity so responsibly so that our diversity can indeed be a strength rather than weakness. Central to this is the issue of justice as a major parameter for measuring our geo-political relations, relevance and power balance. The tendency to rig elections during the democratic process or subverting the wishes of the people via the courts is an aberration and is inimical to the health of our democracy. All efforts must be made by all patriots and the government to safeguard this democracy which is under major threat by the insidious attack of judicial coups! May it not be said that as with Ondo 1983, so is Kano 2023!

• Dr. Babalola wrote from Igbara-Oke, Ondo State.