Olusegun Obasanjo questions Appeal Court Judgement. Three governors were removed from office just last week in separate rulings rendered by the Court of Appeal judges.
Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president, has questioned the Court of Appeal’s judgements to remove elected state governors, arguing that three or five judges shouldn’t be able to overrule choices made by millions of voters during an election.
In response to the Court’s rulings and current processes regarding a number of electoral challenges resulting from the nation’s 2023 elections, Obasanjo claimed that the authority held by a small number of judges was “totally unacceptable.”
Three governors were removed from office just last week in separate rulings rendered by the Court of Appeal judges.
The former president’s statement was made in response to the recent dismissals of three governors of Nigeria: Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State, and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State by the Appeal Court. The dismissals were met with controversy and outrage from the public, particularly from opposition political groups.
Speaking at the high-level consultation on Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library’s Green Resort Legacy in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, Obasanjo criticised the judges for what he called their “cathedral pronouncements.”
He stated, “I think that no matter what kind of democracy or government we have, three or four men in the judiciary should not be able to overturn the decisions of millions of people who have voted,” according to Daily Trust. We need to figure out how to deal with that now.
“I don’t know how it will work, but millions of votes—perhaps 10 million on one side and 9 million on the other—seem completely out of the question to me. Then, five individuals are seated. Out of them, two dissent and three agree.
And you stand up and declare unchangeable cathedral decrees. That shouldn’t be accepted, in my opinion.
“What is the process? I’m not sure. But regardless of the type of democracy we have, we ought to consider how to address this. What would happen to the last election if you were to say, “Go for it again”? I’m not sure.
Thus, I have strong feelings regarding. Whatever you say about the judges won’t change the fact that just five or seven persons will actually take a seat. If there are five, the decision made by three will be final; two may disagree. Your entire action leads to a decision of three or a decision of four.