In this interview, the National Chairman of Social Democratic Party, Shehu Musa Gabam, speaks on a wide range of topical issues, including the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, her successor, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the presidential jet seizure, among others. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola?
During his time, Nigeria witnessed one of the most controversial and most patriotic judgments in terms of conferment of financial autonomy on local government areas in Nigeria. That credit goes directly to him. We thank him for that service to the country as a whole. Be that as it may, the judiciary is the biggest threat our country is facing now more than any other period in time in the history of Nigeria.
The biggest victims of the judiciary are the politicians, and the biggest beneficiaries are also the politicians, due to conflicting interests surrounding the judges that are presiding over some very sensitive cases. And that is why we see our democracy is going down, we have INEC as an institution saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections, and then you have a judiciary that will take away the victory of people who won the election and give it to another person.
These are major contradictions that we have to correct as a nation. We cannot have two institutions established by law, one to conduct election and declare a winner, and then the judicial arm of a government to look at the whole issues and change the narrative or apply technicalities for whatever interest, to announce somebody else who has not followed the process and declare him as a winner of the election.
This is very retrogressive to our country. It is not helpful to our system. And I hope and pray that the new Chief Justice of Nigeria would change the narrative, I agree with what some have said about her. She has a very outstanding record, from what I heard from the background, from my check, she’s a very credible person. You hardly found somebody saying something that is not really credible about her.
She is quite competent to be there. We do hope she will correct some of the ills afflicting the judiciary. We do hope that we should ensure the NJC is up and doing in terms of prosecuting judges that have corrupted the system.
If you could remember not too long ago, recently, the NBS published clearly, and these have been published in other journals around the world, that our judiciary is one of the most corrupt in terms of cash delivery.
The figures were mentioned. This is very damaging to the nation. This is very damaging to the judiciary that was once respected around the world. If I could remember, our judiciary was one of those that trained some other judicial institutions in some African countries but sadly we have descended so low that we compromise virtually in all processes.
You hardly find a judge who looks at issues based on merit and deals with them based on merit. I want to thank you for the analysis given by Osita Chidoka, given the fact the way it is, that was exactly what we presented. We followed the Supreme Court judgment on the presidential election, the Plateau election, Nasarawa election, we complied with it completely and comprehensively, but technicalities were brought in from the courts simply because there are fixated interests that needed to be serviced.
It is like there is a meat you brought to me, and I’m swallowing saliva to eat the meat. But you have not given me the meat, because I have no teeth, but I can chew the meat and I feel the same. That is what the judiciary is doing, and I hope that by the record of the incoming CJN, she will do everything humanly possible as a mother of the nation that will preside over moral issues to ensure that there is justice, fairness and equity in our justice system in the country.
One thing the new CJN could do to straighten that record is to give Nigeria a new brand new personality globally and even locally. What would that be for you?
First is for her to select a team of judges that have credibility, that have clean records and assign them to handle sensitive cases, especially in judiciary. Largely some of the landmark Judgments they have handled are political cases.
Now we still deal with political cases. There are fearless judges in the Supreme Court today and if there are serious cases, what we expect from the new CJN is to select those judges that have credibility, have morality, have decency, that have believe in the unity of Nigeria, that believe in fairness, justice and equity, to deliver on those cases, otherwise, there is no way.
There’s nothing anybody can do. It’s clear that the former CJN did not do much in terms of purging the corruption in the judiciary, in ensuring there was discipline and there was precedence that have been respected by the lower court after the Supreme Court judgment.
You will see abuse of judgment by the lower court that has been settled by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. So these are a gamut of issues that have bedeviled the country, and it increased the level of insecurity in the country, because the moment a citizen cannot get justice, he will take law into his own hands. So it adds a lot of crisis to the insecurity that we are facing today as a nation. So, I hope and pray, given her record, her credibility, and her level of sincerity and the kind of testimony people are saying about her, she will start very firmly. She will leave a legacy behind. She will leave a reformed judiciary. She will leave a judiciary that is a referral point throughout Africa and the world as a whole.
What is your opinion on the purchase of a new presidential aircraft?
I’m not surprised at all. I was just listening recently to the debate in the Senate trying to run away from the issue that there was no such thing before them. And of course, we heard a long time ago that the aircraft had been purchased even before tabling it before the National Assembly, I’m not surprised at all.
I heard about it almost two weeks ago that the aircraft has been purchased; it was in Paris and will be landing in Nigeria. The President will use it for official trips. It shows that we are not communicating with one another. It shows that Nigerians’ views do not really matter in terms of contribution and adding value, given the hardship the nation is facing, rejigging of the economy and ensuring that strategic policies are being applied to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians.
“I thought the President would be sober over the situation in the country to say yes, I heard you. I have listened to you; there is something I can do about it. He just wanted to do what he wanted to do”
I think it’s an act of insensitivity on the side of the government to bluntly behave the way they did, as if nothing will happen at all.
The lifespan of an aircraft can last for 30 or 40 years, depending on the maintenance culture of the aircraft. Nigeria has the capacity to maintain what they have because largely, I know a lot of people own aircraft, and they take them for upgrade and maintenance and so on and so forth. And I don’t know what we are going to do with Airbus as a country. What will the President do with the Airbus, to carry 200 or 300 people, to where? Maybe we are trying to copy America. We are trying to copy some of these countries that have Airbus as official jets for their own country. Economically, I have not seen the sense of it. But maybe we are trying to show that we are up and doing, we have the capacity and the resources, perhaps this is just what they want to achieve at the international level, but domestically, given the sensitive nature of the situation and how people have reacted to it.
I thought the President would be sober over the situation in the country to say yes, I heard you. I have listened to you; there is something I can do about it. He just wanted to do what he wanted to do.
I pray well for him. I pray that not just him, but other leaders that will succeed him will enjoy the aircraft. That’s the best I will say, for now.
Is the timing right? If you were president, what would you do?
I wouldn’t have bought that aircraft. If you go and check our aircraft, forget about the politics surrounding the Presidential Air Fleet we have; simply because they want to justify why they should change it. We can maintain them. We can upgrade them. Because aircraft are being upgraded, all the systems can be changed. So the President at this difficult time that Nigerians are facing extreme hardship, what I expect him to do is to take them for maintenance, for overhauling. The aircrafts are still in good shape. It’s pure politics to suggest that the life of the President is in danger. After all, he said the only president that has problems with the presidential jet, if you could remember, other presidents have similar issues. President Buhari had a similar issue with it at one point or the other. But usually, our maintenance culture has been very, very poor.
Now let’s see how this one will go, whether they will give it 100% maintenance culture, or they will end up leaving these gaps of having problems with the aircraft in one way or the other, because of the lack of maintenance culture. So it has to do with our seriousness as a nation to maintain what we have, to service what we have.
It’s not about the aircraft. It’s not about buying a brand new car, but if you buy a brand new car, you don’t take it to a mechanic to service it constantly, any problem you don’t solve remains with you and will render it useless.
So you see it as insensitive to buy a plane at this time?
It is insensitive. The President knows it is insensitive.
Would you suggest the president travels on a commercial airline?
The British Prime Minister travels on a commercial airline. It’s not just Nigeria. There’s nothing wrong with that. It hasn’t gotten to the point that our aircraft cannot deliver the President wherever he wants to go. As it is right now, the politics behind this was created simply because they are desperate to have a new aircraft. Remember they bought a brand new official car for the president, one of the best in the world. They bought a brand new aircraft right now so you can see the sequence of the activities, despite the economic hardship, despite the reactions of Nigerians, despite the plea by Nigerians that they should temper justice with mercy, they should show that they understand the situation of the country, the suffering of the people, so they should be moderate in their approach in terms of expenditure in terms of managing the psychology of Nigerians. It’s unfortunate and sad indeed.
