If Nigerian democracy fails, it is the legal profession that kills it. I said this because the responsibility to decide and determine electoral disputes either pre – or post arising out of the practice of democracy has been handed over to the legal profession by lawmakers. This is evident in the constitution section 285 thereof and the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.
The lawmakers know that rationality is always not the good attribute of political actors. Political actors, in most cases, act irrationally. That is what leads to disputes to be resolved by the judiciary made up of members of the legal profession. The legal profession all over the world is seen as a profession of light, which ought to be populated by men and women of integrity and honest disposition.
The legal profession is made up of the bar and the bench.The bar and the bench hold the knife and sword to repair or to mar democracy in Nigeria by the way and manner it propounded, pronounced and interpreted our elctoral laws.
As for political class, they have no set standards of boundaries in politics. Anything that advances their selfish political interests is legal and legitimate for them.That is why even those you expected civility from in most cases behaved so unruly and uncivil to the irritation of rationality.
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In the Nigerian brand of democracy loyalty is to the power that be and not to the law and the constitution. That is why you see political actors behave anyhow. But, the ethical codes for the bar and the bench have no room to tolerate irrationality and wayward behaviour. And I think that is why parliament and our lawmakers set a department of legal technicians with set codes to decide electoral disputes.
While partiality is the hallmark of political philosophy of politicians, impartiality and rationality rooted in purity of justice are the attributes of the legal profession. For the legal profession to be seen to be relevant and save Nigerian democracy from hitting the rock and ultimate dictatorship, the judiciary must avoid giving coloured and jaundiced interpretations to our laws that have the potential and possibility of retaining in power those who disregard and disrespect our democratic process with audacity of arrogance rooted in arbitrariness.
If the legal profession in conspiracy with itself decides to sanction breaches of democratic principles in the guise of coloured and jaundice interpretations to sustain partisan interests, then democracy will be in danger and may head to calamitous end. In all, both the political class and the legal profession will be ruled in the state of nature where life will become so brutish, shortish, and nasty. That will be so bad for the greatness happiness of the greatest number of Nigerians.
It is on this plank that I charge the legal profession in Nigeria to have a serious rethink of the kind of principles of law it propounds and interprets in electoral disputes. Nigerians are worried, and the legal profession needs to be careful not to make itself the enemy of rational thinking Nigerians. Nigerians are tired of wayward adjudications in electoral disputes, and they want purposeful adjudication that enhances and promotes healthy democratic growth and development in Nigeria. That is the plea of rational thinking members of Nigerian society.
– Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, SAN