IPAC ROUNDTABLE SERIES

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE 1ST INTER-PARTY

ADVISORY COUNCIL (IPAC) ROUNDTABLE HELD AT THE LADI
KWALI HALL, ABUJA CONTINENTAL HOTEL, THURSDAY, JULY 8,
2024

Theme: The Role of the Judiciary in Nigeria’s Democratic Sustainability

Introduction:

The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) is the umbrella body of all registered and
recognized political parties in Nigeria and a critical stakeholder in the national democratic
process. The body is set up in recognition of the role of political parties in consolidating
and deepening democracy as well as ensuring a conducive environment for successful
elections, political stability, enduring democracy, good governance and well-being of
Nigerians. IPAC is structured at National, State and Local Government Areas, in order
to ensure that all levels and tiers of government are carried along in the electoral and
democratic process.
Concerned by recent developments in the polity with regards to the role of Judiciary in
the democratic process, and with the clear understanding of the critical role of IPAC as
the incubator of leadership within the Executive and Legislative arms across the three
tiers of government and to a large extent the Judiciary as it relates to appointment of
Judges at all levels, the Council thought it was necessary to convene a roundtable
discussion among relevant stakeholders to explore the judiciary's role in consolidating
democracy in Nigeria, identify challenges, and propose solutions to enhance the
judiciary's effectiveness.

Key Issues of great concern to IPAC and stakeholders include constitutional

interpretation and judicial review; dangers of conflicting court judgements; making sense
of the political logjam and traditional debacle in Rivers and Kano States respectively;
judicial independence and accountability; the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the
effectiveness of current disciplinary measures in curbing misconduct, etc.

Participants in the Roundtable cut across stakeholders including Government officials;

Judicial Officers; Leaders of political parties; Development partners; Legal practitioners;
Civil society organizations; Security Agencies; Academics and researchers, and the Media.
Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, National Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC)
presented a welcome address, while the Keynote address was presented by a Legal
Practitioner, Mr. Jibrin Samuel Okutepa (SAN). Discussants at the Roundtable include,
Senator Shehu Sani – Former Senator, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Dr. I.B Gashinbaki
– Pioneer President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified
Fraud Investigators of Nigeria; Dr. Sam Amadi – Abuja School of Social and Political
Thought and Former Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC),
F.R.A. Onoja SAN – Legal Practitioner; Ene Obi – Former Director, Action Aid and
Dr. Ijeoma Nwafor – Country Representative to the Hague Institute for Innovation of
Law (HiiL). The session was moderated by Dr. Amaechi Aniekwe of AIT/Raypower.
The Plenary session presented participants opportunity to ask questions as well as made
valuable contributions.

The Roundtable session noted the following:

1. Democracy is a cornerstone of modern governance. It is characterized by free and
fair elections that allow citizens to express their will and choose their leaders
2. In a democracy, majority decision is legitimate only when it is a majority decision
within a community of equals. That means not only that everyone must be allowed
to participate in politics as an equal through the vote and through freedom of
speech and protest, but that political decisions must treat everyone with equal
concern and respect, that each individual person must be guaranteed fundamental
civil and political rights no combination of other citizens can take away, no matter
how numerous they are or how much they despise his or her race or morals or way
of life.
3. The brand of democracy most of our political actors love and practice is
government of the selected by the selected for the selected. Democracy in the true
sense of government of the people by the people for the people is far from Nigeria.
Political leaders and moneybags have played very dangerous and undermining roles
in our democratic journey so far.
4. Our democracy has been militarized and thuggish prone. We allowed what the law
prohibited as instrument of installing leadership in power. Today people have been
impoverished and poverty has become the lots of our people
5. Many Nigerian politicians used all manners of manipulative antics and tactics to
impose themselves in power knowing fully well that there will be no remedy and
consequences at the end of the day.
6. In all of these, the judiciary which is the institution that has the duty to hold
politicians accountable appears to have been unable to do so efficiently, for reasons
not far from Nigerian factors. It is sad and terrible that the brand of democracy in
Nigeria is by getting power through the barrel of the guns and thuggery and punish
people by looting and bragging as saint but worse than Satan in actions and
 decisions. That is Nigerian brand of democracy. Nothing is done decently. The
future is bleak for democracy and electoral jurisprudence in Nigeria. Nigerian
democracy may head to a calamitous end unless the judiciary and legal profession
retrace their steps in the kind of judgments being delivered in electoral matters by
the Nigerian judiciary
7. The role of the judiciary, particularly through election tribunals, is indispensable for
upholding and sustaining democratic principles in Nigeria. The judiciary ensures the
fair resolution of electoral disputes, upholds the rule of law, promotes
accountability, safeguards democratic values, boosts public confidence in
democracy, and sets legal precedents for the future. The commitment of the
judiciary to these responsibilities is crucial in securing a robust and thriving
democracy in Nigeria, where the voice of the people is respected, and the
democratic process is transparent and just.
8. In Nigeria, as in many democratic nations, Nigerians and our laws expect the
Nigerian judiciary to play crucial roles in preserving and protecting democratic
governance and the integrity of democracy through election tribunals and courts by
adjudicating electoral disputes
9. All over the world, historical jurisprudence has shown that members of the legal
profession, who are the producers of the judiciaries in their respective countries,
play significant roles through the judicial institutions for good governance and
accountability
10. The Court and indeed all Courts in Nigeria have a duty which flows from a power
granted by the Constitution of Nigeria to ensure that citizens of Nigeria, high and
low get the justice which their case deserves. The powers of the Courts are derived
from the Constitution not at the sufferance or generosity of any other arm of the
Government of Nigeria. The judiciary like all citizens of this country cannot be a
passive on-looker when any person attempts to subvert the administration of justice
and will not hesitate to use the powers available to it to do justice in the cases before
it
11. In those days when judges of immaculate character and courage manned the
judiciary in Nigeria, there was consistency in judicial precedents. High courts were
bound by their previous decisions. The Court of Appeal was bound by its previous
decisions unless there were reasons to depart from it. In departing their lordships
will give convincing reasons. The Supreme Court was the alpha and omega of the
judiciary and it gave sound decisions rooted in good and logical jurisprudence that
produced justice in judgments. Its decisions bind all the courts below it and it’s
bound by its own decisions unless over ruled or departed from. It was not
consistently inconsistent in decisions. Lawyers were sure that with certainty of
precedents of previous decisions, they could give legal advice and be sure that their
advice would be correct and almost accurate.
12. As at now in all honesty and with profound respect, we can no longer say that our
revered Supreme Court is not consistently inconsistent in decisions, particularly
 when it comes to decisions in electoral jurisprudence. There are so many
inconsistent decisions and precedents in electoral matters and or jurisprudence in
Nigeria coming from the Apex court
13. Gradually, there is no hope of getting justice in electoral jurisprudence by those
who are robbed of victories at the polls either by thuggish approaches or by outright
INEC collusion with those they are ordered to be declared in breach of the
sovereignty of the people. Many decisions are at variance with legal logic and
constitution and previous decisions of our courts.
14. Judgments of courts and or Tribunals ought to contain and serve the end of justice,
the interest of those who were wrongly denied opportunities at the polls and those
who voted for them. But alas, that is not the case in most cases of judgments in
electoral matters.
15. The kind of electoral judgments from our courts which in most cases are devoid of
justice has made many people to lose hope in the potential good and purpose of
justice and democracy in the Nigerian State. Any justice system that does not
produce proportional fairness and quality justice to the vast majority of the people
in the society cannot be described as justice.
16. The primary duty of the judiciary is to interpret the law and not to dabble into
political partisanship in the consideration of matters before them. The judiciary is
the light that must shine in darkness and not allow darkness to overcome it in its
constitutional role of adjudication.
17. The image of the judiciary is on trial in the eyes of reasonable men and women in
Nigeria. The Nigerian judiciary must not disappoint the nation. The judiciary cannot
continue to approve deliberate breaches of our rules and regulations in elections on
the platform of substantial compliance. Any substantial compliance with faulty
foundations cannot be treated as substantial compliance.
18. It is however incontrovertible and worthy to note that the Judiciary faces a myriad
of challenges, like inadequate funding, complete autonomy and independence of
the judiciary, dependence on other arms of government.

Recommendations

1. Nigerian courts need to take a hard look at some of the principles of electoral
jurisprudence that are aiding and abetting the rigging and imposition of people duly
rejected at the polls but wrongly announced and imposed by the electoral body.
2. Nigerian judiciary must be bold and ready to do what it is set up to do in deepening
democracy given the controversies that trail the conduct of elections in Nigeria.
3. The old orders and some archaic precedents and principles that put roadblocks to
democratic growth and development must be departed from and new set of rules to
guide the political behaviours of our political class must be set. The courts must
 emphasize the superiority of Constitutional provisions and Acts of parliament over
rules, guidelines, regulations.
4. The inevitable and sacred duty on the judiciary to avoid technicality and to do
substantial justice since in the words of the Supreme Court, “…technical justice,
in reality is not justice but a caricature of it”
5. The innovations introduced by the BVAS accreditation and uploading of elections
results at the polling units to ensure transparent democratic processes must be given
the correct interpretation to ensure the sanctity of our democratic sanity.
6. Electronic evidence in section 84 of the Evidence Act and the use of Technology
must be given prominent pride of place to avoid old and analogue requirements of
calling polling units by polling units evidence in proof of electoral malpractices.
7. Legislation should nip in the bud the issue of laxity and latitude given to INEC to
choose whichever method of transmission of results it wants; but adhere to a
mandatory, uniform, clear and unarguable duty and obligation to be carried out by
INEC via a clean and unambiguous status.
8. The Nigerian Judiciary must maintain a very great distance from politics and
politicians.
9. The judiciary must be ready to order the demolition of superstructure erected on
faulty foundations to produce winners in the elections in Nigeria and to instill
political sanity in our political system and to ensure democratic growth and
sustainability.
10. No court worth it’s salts should approve barbaric conduct that produced winners of
elections in democracy on the principle of substantial compliance that will continue
to encourage brigandage and hooliganism as parts of Nigerian brand of democracy.
11. Our courts must resist the temptations of encouraging the continued use of thuggery
as parts of Nigerian democratic culture and values. Nigerians must not be seen as
primitive in the comity of democratic nations.
12. There is a critical need to fully introduce forensics, Automation and full Deployment
of technology to the electoral process from registration to electoral transmission.
13. To enhance resolution of disputes in Political parties, there should be a legislation to
entrench fixed Arbitration panels in Political Parties to deal with internal disputes in
Political parties.
14. Nigerian judiciary must move from the analogue jurisprudence to digital
jurisprudence where the use of technological devices to resolve electoral disputes are
welcome and deeply encouraged. No one needs to be physically present in Zamfara,
Lagos, Enugu, Edo, and Rivers for instance to see what goes on in those states and
others states on election days given the abilities of our technological devices that has
made the world a global village.
15. Politicians should not be involved in the recruitment process of Judges. Accordingly,
recruitment of judicial officers must be carried out transparently, meritoriously and
 without bias so as to have the best hands, with impeccable integrity, which will in
turn rub off on the quality of judgments.
16. The recruitment of delegates who elect the candidate who ultimately fly the flag of
the parties should be critically recalibrated.
17. Politicians, Judicial officers and Key Stakeholders should be patriotic and seek to
leave lasting legacies for the sustenance and deepening of democracy.
18. Because self-correction is not very easy, judicial reforms may be more effective if it
come from outside its system, hence, NBA needs to work with other organizations,
stakeholders, civil society organization to facilitate the expected judicial reforms.
19. There is an urgent need to purge INEC of staff who are partisan.
20. In order to avoid the vicious circle of blames, we need institutional reforms where
the institutions are stronger than the individuals.
21. INEC should be unbundled to deal strictly with the conduct of election
22. State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) should be scrapped, while INEC is
empowered to take over the conduct of elections in the Local Governments as in the
case of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
23. The Courts and INEC should be discouraged from partisanship and interference
with the internal affairs of political parties
24. The Roundtable condemns in its entirety the attempt by the Judiciary to twist and
truncate the constitutional provision specifically Section 109. (1) (g) of the 1999
Constitution as amended, which is not ambiguous as in the case in Rivers. Again, in
Rivers, the Judiciary should not allow itself to be used in frustrating the process that
leads to the election of a democratically elected Local Government officials in the
State, which the whole nation is clamoring for, and in tandem with the landmark
ruling of the Supreme Court on financial autonomy of the Local Governments.
25. Finally, participants commended IPAC leadership for this initiative towards
deepening democracy and enjoined stakeholders, government partners, and the
media to support the IPAC Roundtable series.

Yusuf M. Dantalle Barr Maxwell Mgbudem National

Chairman National Secretary