Since the inception of the present administration more than three years ago, we have been treated to a show of flagrant disregard for court orders. From Dasuki to ElZakzaky, this government has thrown court orders into the trash, showing blatant disregard for the judiciary. I wonder if there is really separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution.
The latest dragging of court judgments through the mud occurred on June 26, 2018. On March 2, 2018, an Abuja Federal High Court outlawed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, ruling that there were no extant laws authorising the exercise.
ALSO READ: Forceful takeover of NASS will harm democracy, PDP warns FG
But on June 26, 2018, in the opening session of JAMB’s Policy Meeting, the Minister of Education announced the conduct of this year’s post UTME
One would expect aggrieved parties who are not contented with a court ruling to appeal the judgment, but it appears that in Nigeria, one man can decide to wave the courts away. Now, higher institutions across the country have rolled out post UTME registrations, most disguising it as pre-screening registration.
One wonders if the higher institutions too did not know of the court injunction. Of course, they did. But we can all decide to disobey the courts.
The disregard for the rule of law is not native to the present administration alone. The creation of post-UTME was a fiat of a former minister of Education who I learnt complained that JAMB scores did not correspond with the school performance of the students.
So I ask again, do we really have laws?
- Adeyemi Ahmed Abiodun,
adeyemiahmedabiodun@gmail.com
and then