Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the judiciary is the greatest threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
According to him, initiatives aimed at reducing judicial irresponsibility have produced no results.
On Monday, he spoke as a panellist at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria organized by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (Centre LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), and the National Peace Committee (NPC).
The politician was among the discussants in the paper titled “Party Politics and Political Integrity: The Role of Political Parties and Opposition in Democracy” presented by Prof. Bayo Olukoshi.
He argued that the judiciary must change, adding that the same judiciary that affirmed the primacy of parties in choosing their candidates and leaders now sanctions and indeed promotes the destruction of parties by a few, and in some cases, a single individual with a personal agenda.
“The judiciary also seems to have replaced the voters in choosing our leaders. The involvement of the judiciary in electoral disputes was intended to affirm the choice of voters.
“But the judiciary, even at the highest levels, twists and contorts to find technicalities to deny voters their choice rather than affirming the voters’ choices.
“I know enough of history to understand that when democracy dies, the judiciary and its leadership do not necessarily survive intact.
“The judiciary survived the implosion or death of our First Republic democracy mainly due to the presence of strong independent justices. It wasn’t for want of trying.
“However, as the corruption of every facet of our society deepened, the judiciary soon followed. And it is, perhaps, the most dangerous because there is nowhere else for the aggrieved to turn to,” he said.
He alleged that there was no one to check the excesses of the other branches of government.
“If the rot in our judiciary persists without severe consequence for the perpetrators, our parties and our democracy are unlikely to survive.”
Atiku claimed that Nigeria’s democracy is at a crossroads.
