FASHOLA ADVOCATES DELETION OF CONSTITUTIONAL TIME LIMIT ON ELECTION TRIBUNALS · “Section 285 (6) of the Constitution has not improved the electoral process and it compromises justice and the right to a fair hearing”, he says . Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Tuesday advocated the deletion of Section 285 (6) of the 1999 Constitution as Amended concerning the time limit placed on the hearing of election petitions by Election Tribunals saying the provision has neither improved the electoral process nor advanced the course of Justice. Section 285 (6) of the 1999 Constitution as Amended stipulates that: “An election tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filing of the petition”. Governor Fashola, who spoke in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, as Guest Speaker at the 2013 Nigerian Bar Association 53rd Annual Conference’s Section on Legal Prastice, said although the delays in discharging election petitions by the tribunals carried a lot of costs for judicial time, putting a limit on the time of hearing the petitions was not the right remedy. Speaking on the theme, “Rethinking the Provisions of Section 285 (6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as Amended on Election Petitions for a Stable Constitutional Democracy” Governor Fashola declared, “My recommendation is simple. Section 285 (6) of the Constitution must be deleted for no other reason than the fact that it has proven to have no utilitarian value in improving the electoral process and the fact that it compromises justice and the right to a fair hearing”. According to him, “Yes, I agree that those delays were inordinate and carried a lot of cost for judicial time; but the question is whether we found the right remedy, or indeed whether we genuinely sought the right remedy or whether the party in the majority simply bulldozed its way through parliament in order to preserve further “losses” or better still simply sought to prevent a retrieval of mandates that it had stolen at the polls”. He said instead of putting a time limit on the tribunals and hearing of petitions, the cause or causes of the delays in hearing the petitions and challenges in the way of discharging election petitions on time should be sought and addressed decisively. “What were the reasons for those inordinate delays? What roles did the parties to the petition play in the delays? What roles did lawyers play deliberately or by lack of professionalism? What roles did the Judges play in the delays? Were the professionals involved in the trial sufficiently prepared by training and experience for the tasks which we assigned to them?”, the Governor asked. Arguing against the setting up of Special Courts to hear election petitions, Governor Fashola said unless such courts would be manned by Special Persons, the purpose would be defeated adding that the answer to the issue would come from transparency in the conduct of elections in the country and the display of professionalism by lawyers handling such petitions. “How many adjournments were granted in those periods of delay as a result of lack of preparation by lawyers and judges or as a result of brinkmanship or indeed collusion to frustrate trial? Are we truly helpless in the face of such conduct or are we prepared to change what we do not accept or are we going to pursue quick fixes like Section 285 (6) which compound the problem?”, the Governor asked. The Governor, who quoted copiously from written experiences of some eminent jurists on the controversial Section 285 (6) said allowing it to stand would tantamount to encouraging rigging and other electoral malpractices since the perpetrators would just frustrate trial for just 180 days in order to get into office. “The unspoken statement that is coming out of the experiences of the lawyers who have assisted me about the disposition of parties to an election is this:- “It is better to rig and get into office because I can frustrate trial from being started and concluded in 180 days”, the Governor said. According to him, “We have not heard the unspoken statement of those who have been at the receiving end of such unjust treatment in the run up to the 2015 elections. I can only hazard a guess that it may not sound good unless we get our legislators to re-think and remove Section 285 (6); because if the hunter has learnt to shoot without missing, the bird that seeks to survive must learn to fly without perching”. He argued, “If we change our ways, we will not need special agencies, at least not with the rapidity with which we resort to them. They increase the cost of governance, consume taxpayer’s money and I doubt that their performances to date have justified their existence. The same money can be used to strengthen the investigative capacities of the Police and the existing courts to do the same job. Speaking, particularly on the role of lawyers in achieving quick dispensation of election petitions, Governor Fashola called for dedication to the profession and also more professional training for lawyers saying adjournments and other forms of delay often come from non-preparedness by lawyers. He declared, “Between 1990 and 2002 when I practiced law in Lagos, I was in court every day or almost, and I do not re-call that up to 5 (five) adjournments were granted at my instance. The reason is simple. I was always prepared to prosecute or defend my clients’ cases. I lived on the practice of the law entirely and no other trade”. “Concluding cases and billing for them was therefore important. I had also served pupilage for 3 (three) full years; where, with every sense of modesty, I can say I was very well trained and exposed before I ventured on my own” the Governor added. “Can we encourage compulsory pupilage to improve the quality of professionalism? This has been a matter for debate over several decades but it is one of the options we must not dismiss in the pursuit of professional excellence. It is a process of training. In the professional realm, I do not know a substitute for training. The Housemanship and Residency programme for doctors are training programmes we can borrow from”, he said. The Governor also canvassed the commencement of what he called “a more transparent process of assessing judicial officers” adding, “If we expect the Nigeria society to take us seriously, in my humble view, standards can only improve by measurement, sanctions and rewards”. He said this had become necessary because the actions or inactions, efficiency or inefficiency of lawyers have far reaching consequences on the lives of the people adding, “if a judge gets it wrong all the time, even though I agree that the law is not an exact mathematical science, frequent reversals by an appellate court can lead to the strong inference that the judge is either incompetent or compromised”. “I once heard that many years before I was admitted to the Bar, judges were assessed by number of their cases that were upheld or reversed on appeal. This can only make sense, because, in my view, he becomes undeserving of continuing in such high and important office”, the Governor said adding that lawyers convicted of professional misconduct “must be more rigorously dealt with and expeditiously too”. Governor Fashola commended the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Mariam Alooma Mukhtar for showing the way in this direction adding, however, “How many of us are ready to follow or even go ahead of her? “Under-performing lawyers and judges cannot be viewed any differently from under-performing doctors and surgeons who are either improperly trained or who do not prepare themselves”, the Governor said adding that the constitution of election tribunals and trial of election petitions are not stand alone process or procedure He continued, “They are part of the entire electoral process starting with the voters’ registration, actual voting, collation and announcement of results, swearing in of elected officials and the resolution of election disputes, which is what Section 285 (6) is all about. Therefore, the biggest hurdle we have to cross must be to ensure credibility of the processes that precede the resolution of election conflicts”. “We must get to the situation where, even before the formal announcement by the electoral umpire, the results are already known and accepted by those who participated, so that the umpire’s declaration only ratifies what is already known and accepted”, the Governor said. Governor Fashola also reiterated his call for the prosecution of electoral offenders pointing out that in order to achieve the goal of free and fair elections, those found to have compromised in the electoral process either for monetary gains or electoral advantages, must be appropriately sanctioned. “Perhaps more importantly, we must punish electoral offenders well in advance of the 2015 elections by demonstrating our resolve to stand up against what undermines our collective national development and has killed many dreams and aspirations before now and threatens to do more havoc unless it is decisively dealt with”, he said. Blaming the nation’s under development on political inefficiencies, Governor Fashola declared, “In a nation where there are so many lawyers and where many election petitions have been successful, and hitherto valid returns have been nullified, I find it strange that the records do not reveal one single trial for electoral fraud or offences, not to talk of a conviction in the history of our nation’s electoral experience dating back to the 1950s”. Urging the Nigerian lawyers to “rise from the Conference and seek to be counted amongst the best professionals in their land by showing the way forward to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign”, Governor Fashola charged them to mobilize people from all constituents to engage the National Assembly to remove Section 285 (6) from the Constitution?”. The Conference should, according to the Governor, also compel the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar to expeditiously hear and determine all cases of professional misconduct among lawyers and other judicial officers. “The Nigerian lawyers must rise from this Conference and seek to be counted amongst the best professionals in their land by showing the way forward to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign”, he said. Other participants at the Section on Legal Practice included Chief Joe Kyari Gadzama (SAN), Chief Alex Izinyo (SAN), Mr. Ndukwe Nwawuchi (SAN) and Mr. Garba Shamtu Pwul (SAN). Also present at the Conference include President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Okey Wali (SAN)., Justice of Appeal Court, Justive C.C. Nweze, Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye and the General Secretary of NBA, Mr. Emeka Obagoku among scores of legal luminaries from all over the country.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 20:51:48 +0000
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