In Law, there is something called ‘ academic exercise’ Judicial officers always guide against engaging in an exercise that would eventually end up as academic. Academic exercise, in Law, is an exercise in futility. A needless and useless venture.
I was greatly amused when I read it on Friday that an Oyo state High Court had validated the jamboree 2025 PDP Convention held in Ibadan in November.
I asked myself, to what length are some people prepared to go in chasing shadows? What is the relevance of the judgment delivered by the Oyo state High Court in a matter that is already before the Court of Appeal? Who were the parties in the suit before the Oyo state High Court?
Is the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC bound by the judgment of a Court in which the Commission was not a party? What is the consequence of INEC not being a party in the suit? You will think I am harsh in my assessment of the judgment but I’m not.
I’m only been realistic. At a point, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was a party in the suit but the name of the Commission was struck out after a preliminary objection raised by the Commission was sustained. INEC contended that the Court had no jurisdiction to sit over cases involving the Commission and the Court agreed with the Commission and therefore struck out the name of the Commission from the suit.
Now, will INEC be bound by the judgment of the Oyo state High Court in the circumstance? The answer is a capital NO. So, when the Court ruled that the Convention in Ibadan was valid, who is expected to implement the judgment? If INEC refuses to acknowledge the judgment, can any Court compel it to comply based on that judgment? The answer is also a capital NO.
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So, why give a judgement in limbo? Not only that, the Court of Appeal in Abuja had already heard the various Appeals involving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and judgment reserved. What effect could the judgment of today have in the dispute after the judgment of the Court of Appeal is read?
I am surprised that Governor Seyi Makinde is now running from pillar to post, shopping for where he could get favorable judgment. Governor Seyi Makinde, the same person who was drunk with power to the extent that he disobeyed the Supreme Court of Nigeria, not once, not twice.
Thankfully, this situation is clearly different from Eruwa. It is different from Oyo and Ogbomosho. It is different from the case of the Local Government Chairmen elected during the time of Ajimobi and neither is it related to the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria which granted financial autonomy to Local Governments.
Governor Makinde can not apply the principle of ” I see a lacuna in the judgment of the Supreme Court” in this instance. Honestly, I pity the Governor of Oyo state. I don’t know those who are advising him in the line of action he is presently pursuing in this PDP palaver.
All I see around him are failures and disappointments. I also pity those who have decided to place their eggs in Governor Makinde’s basket in this dispute about the PDP. I have said it times without number, Governor Makinde’s opponents are too much for him to handleThey are smarter and more clinical.
Nyesom Wike will never waste his time on pursuing a matter before a lower Court when the Court of Appeal is already sitting on the same subject matter. Neither would Nyesom Wike keep pursuing the matter immediately the name of INEC was struck out. Of what use would such a judgement be even, assuming the Federal High Court had not delivered judgment on the matter and it is not before the Court of Appeal?
How do you enforce a judgement that is not against the relevant party? The Governor Makinde faction of the PDP were the plaintiffs in a similar matter before the Federal High Court in Ibadan and they lost to the Wike faction.
As a result of that, they filed an Appeal against the said judgment. Yet, they still went back to a lower Court to obtain a judgement. Against which decision was the judgment of the Oyo state High Court given? Oh, this people are in a big mess.
Perhaps, only the Oyo state Independent Electoral Commission, OYSIEC would honor that kind of judgement, not because it is proper but only because they have no choice. Unfortunately, Governor Makinde’s anointed candidates for Federal elections could only be admitted by the INEC.
What a peculiar mess! Governor Makinde knows the options open to him. I don’t know why he is wasting his time fighting a completely lost battle. The Governor of Adamawa state has gone to the APC.
The Governor of Bauchi state, who I thought would at least be with Governor Seyi Makinde till the end has met with president Tinubu on Friday and only God knows, he could also be on his way out. What an interesting time for Governor Makinde? May God continue to rest the soul of late Governor Adebayo Alao Akala.
He was the one who used to tell us not to be the last person to see reasons. ( E ma je ki oro ku mo yin lori), he used to say. I remember the times when we were little children. Then, we used to sing “….eni oro ku mo lori ko se ba jiyan ale…”.
Sola Abegunde.
