Re: Transactional justice

Two articles have generated very engaging comments and reviews from some distinguished Nigerians in relation to The Crucial Verdicts and Transactional Justice. Permit me to share with you, especially those with divergent views.

 

By Tunde Adejumo:

Learned Silk, let me first express my appreciation for you sharing this piece. I do, however, wish to share a slightly different but hopefully thought-provoking perspective. The distrust of the judiciary among the members of the public is at an all-time high. Many will even go as far as to openly say that an overwhelming majority of the judiciary is steeped in corruption. I don’t share this point of view that a “majority” of the judiciary is corrupt. I am in complete agreement with your position when you said most Judges are incorrigible and above board. I do, however, feel articles like this one have the potential to fuel the wrong narrative held by the majority of laymen and the general public and may actually be counterproductive.

Your article made mention of the fact that you have heard that “some” lawyers, Judges, and litigants are involved in transactional justice. Nowhere in the article are the names of these lawyers and Judges who allegedly partake in transactional justice mentioned. By failing or refusing to volunteer the names of the lawyers and Judges who allegedly partake in transactional justice, is there not a risk that in the eyes of the average layman and members of the general public, every lawyer and Judge now becomes a suspect? Is failing and refusing to name the lawyers and Judges who are allegedly partaking in transactional justice not inconsistent with the view that all cases of transactional justice should be met with open resistance and humiliation by all lovers of justice? Should open resistance and humiliation not include naming those lawyers and Judges allegedly partaking in transactional justice? How do we openly resist and humiliate an abominable act if we are not provided with the names of those perpetrating the said act? Would a better approach not have been to bring a formal petition before the appropriate authorities against the said lawyers and Judges who are partaking in the said transactional justice?

I also have a problem with the fact that this article is premised on things told to you by other persons or seen on WhatsApp. I do not believe a serious issue such as transactional justice, which attacks the integrity of “some” lawyers and Judges, should be written about and circulated on the basis of what others told us or some of the things we generally see on WhatsApp. Corruption in the judiciary is a serious issue that needs to be tackled before it destroys our institution. However, that needs to be done in a way and manner that does not make rubbish of the entire institution.

 

Lawson T Abosi:

Tunde Adejumo on national television senator Adamu Bulkachuwa confessed that he influenced his wife to favour his political friends while she was in office. What happened? Did all the cases presided over by Zainab Bulkachuwa revisited? Was there any investigation team set up to investigate the confession. Secondly, a Judge in the Kano election petition court said lawyers are coming to bribe her. What did the Nigeria judicial council do? Or the NBA. I ask you. What will you do with names if this writer begins to mention names? What have we done with all the already mentioned ones?

 

RE: THE CRUCIAL VERDICTS

 By John Walker Adetunji-Adeoye:

Sir, I agree with some of the things you wrote, and respectfully disagree on others. Let me focus on where I disagree, sir. You said how come a court can turn around to dismiss a witness it called upon to qualify? Isn’t that the prerogative of the court to dismiss whatever it ordered itself? Isn’t it a prerogative of a court to even overrule major decisions it has made itself, and I’m referring to an entire case/precedent? Therefore, if a court can overrule itself, why can’t it dismiss witnesses it deemed unfit, or is it until a catastrophe has been done before the court admits it erred?

On the issue of electronic transmission of results. If I am correct, INEC “TRANSMITTED” the results electronically, but uploading it in real-time is bone of contention. Are we going to pretend that Nigeria is not yet fully developed in terms of internet and technological infrastructure to allow for all its population to vote electronically? Wasn’t that one of the reasons the cashless policy of the CBN failed? During the introduction of the cashless policy which coincided with the electoral period, many Nigerians critiqued the CBN, and by extension the FG, that it ought to take into consideration the poor and vulnerable people of the country who have no access to mobile technology to access funds. Why then do the same Nigerians turn around to castigate INEC, and by extension the FG, when it came to the election? Generally, it must be said and known that INEC is an election-conducting agency and not the overall body of the Nigerian society or politics, being that it can not carry out every function, including security, technology etc. People expect INEC to be a miracle worker. They said INEC failed to conduct credible elections and that elections were marred by violence. IS IT THE DUTY OF INEC TO RESTORE PEACE? Does INEC have the power to enforce law and order? Others blamed INEC for internet/power outages, forgetting that INEC relies heavily on the same internet/power that we use daily, of which we often face intermittent disruption ourselves. Again, INEC is not a miracle worker and those expecting otherwise will continue to be disappointed by electoral outcomes. Moving forward, we jointly can call for IMPROVEMENTS, but such should not equate to demanjhg MIRACLE from INEC. My humble submission, sir.

 

By Atolani Segun Alex:

In my own opinion, I actually think the lapses in electronic transmission of results have been highlighted by this judgement contrary to your opinion here sir. Few weeks or days after the election, I watched Chief Olisa Agbakoba and  he said something very profound about the role of e-transmission of result in the 2022 electoral act, according to him, after reading the supreme court decision on the Osun governorship election, he had to go back to the electoral act and that was when he found out that there is nothing in the electoral act that mandates INEC to use electronic means of result transmission, I think the mistake most of us made was to assume that the 2022 electoral act mandates INEC to transmit result electronically, which is actually not the case. I’m not a lawyer but I’ve read the 2022 electoral act over and over, and I make bold to say that there is nothing there that mandates INEC to transmit result electronically, so if there is no such provision in the electoral act, how then do we expect the Lord justices to rule in favour of a non-existent provisio? While I understand that the electoral act says INEC should conduct the election based on a guideline to be decided by it, and some may want to argue that since INEC already informed the public that the e-transmission option would be used ,it ought to have stood by it, but we all seem to ignore the fact that INEC was able to argue at the tribunal that it did issue a modification of her guidelines few days before the election (backed by newspaper reportage) wherein it was made clear that the e-transmission of result will no longer be used and since that was the latest guideline issued by INEC before the election, then the issue of non compliance with its guideline couldn’t have arisen- it’s like the yoruba name of Adegun and Adeogun, it is still at the prerogative of INEC.

What is the lesson we can take from this? I think we should now channel all our energies on the national assembly to ensure that the electoral act is further amended such that e-transmission if results will no longer be optional – result on irev should be backed up by law to contribute to collation of results rather than it just being a mere viewing portal as it currently is. Thank you sir for always sharing your thoughts.

 

By Baba Oluwadarasimi:

Good morning sir,  on the issue of electronic transmission of result,  I strongly disagree with your position sir. You were in this country when INEC said that its servers were attacked several times by some of the agents of candidates who believed it is a must to win the Presidential election.  You expect INEC to undermine the Presidential election results only because of electronic transmission sir, I disagree. Each of the political parties has agents across all the polling units in the country,  why can’t they present the copies of form to the court to justify their pleadings at the Tribunal?  PDP and the Labour Party Presidential candidates believe intimidating the court via social media can make the court give them “ Oluwole Jungle Justice “ , it is a no no sir.  I quite understand your political lamentation sir because your preferred candidate lost woefully at the APC Presidential primary election, so you have been technically praying that President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Jagaban mandate should not be upheld sir.

 

By Michael Henry:

I quite agree with you learned silk. I have been of the view that since no provision of the law compulsorily placed or mandates INEC to upload results in real time, then INEC can’t be held accountable but after careful reading of your submission, I have come to realize that INEC ought and in fact should be held accountable for its failure to meet its own guidelines. The doctrine of public expectations should be invoked to put INEC in the position to answer for its own failures and disappointment to the millions of Nigerians. If that’s done, it will help Nigeria in future elections.

 

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