Taking a Closer Look at Our Supreme Court

Segun Showunmi

Sometime ago, I began to reflect on the nature of the judicial process, what determines how a judge comes to a decision when faced with issues that have far-reaching implications. As I bestirred my soul, I came across the work of BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO, LL.D. 1870-1938 - Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

I noticed that from time immemorial, the issue of what informed judgement had occupied the minds of noble persons. I found that we had got to a critical point in our development as a nation and we must take great care to pull ourselves back from the potential consequence of a complete loss of faith in the system, especially the Supreme Court.

Right now, I find myself pondering on what we must do to redirect things. Elections and election-related issues must not rob us of our country and its harmony. We just cannot place our fingers on how we got to this all-time-low in terms of confidence in the integrity of our judges.

I must say that the more I thought, the more I found myself wondering how we got an electoral system that is so unpredictable, corrupt and disorganised; the foundation of all the pressure we pile on our courts. Shall we not now look at how best to give ourselves a fit-for-purpose election process that can make life easier for us all?

Until we pour over the recent Imo State judgement, we can logically say that the explanation for a scenario where the most creative of us finds it hard to justify how suddenly the 4th is now the 1st underneath a mathematical substitution arrangement is hard to swallow. I do not know how to console Ndi Imo right now, as we cannot be entirely sure if their wishes have been respected or they have been saddled with an illegitimate governor by the Supreme Court of our beloved Nigeria.

No one is the winner in any process that leaves doubts in the minds of the people. Was the case well prosecuted by Ihedioha’s lawyers, or like it is with the nature of the judicial process, do judges have ways of seeing and hearing only what they wish to hear? Whatever be the legal reason, the law was created for the society and not the other way round. And we must, as a matter of urgency, fix our Electoral Act, lest we destroy the Judiciary and our country.

The thinking on the way and manner judicial decisions are taken can better be grouped under four headings:
1.The Method of Philosophy
2.The Methods of History, Tradition and Sociology
3.The Method of Sociology and the Judge as a Legislator
4.Adherence to Precedent, the Subconscious Element in the Judicial Process.

Great legal minds pay great obeisance to the soundness of the reasoning of Judges no matter who wins or who loses. At the level of any Supreme Court, you would expect that as a court of policy, Their Lordships ought to weigh the far-reaching implications of what they pronounce. But alas, slowly but surely, we can see in Nigeria that under the present dispensation, noble words and logical reasoning leave the soul heavy as to what has become of the chamber of justice.

If we go to history, tradition and sociology, as things stand now, it seems that toddlers are currently in high places without a bother as to what type of society the highest court in the land is breeding. If the vast majority believe that something irrational and difficult to accept in sound reasoning is emanating from the final court in the land, do we all not see that we need to look no further for evidence that the society has failed? Can we not see that with the situation in our polity and with our courts right now, there is only a thin line between peace and unrest?

I doubt if the purpose of the law is to make the society less harmonious with the actions and pronouncements of its custodians. If we look at the judge as a legislator, especially the Supreme Court, one is bound to ask: are the full implications of what is currently happening in the highest court of the land clear to the judges of our Supreme Court? Would we now become people who cannot deepen our jurisprudence, especially on election-related matters? Can we not realistically expect that our Supreme Court will return us to our glory days where sound judgements emanated from the forebears of this great land of ours?

Perhaps in the subconscious element, one may have to ask: what inspires judges of the Supreme Court in this era? By what higher ideals do these servants of the state allow their souls to be lifted to do justice to all in good conscience?

These matters trouble my spirit. I hold that it is the duty of leaders to reflect on the bigger issues to save Nigeria. We sincerely must work together without sentiments to berth the Nigeria of our dreams.