Former President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed concern over judgements on political cases by some courts in the country, saying the situation does not give a good sign for democracy.
Jonathan, who stated this at the 67th birthday celebration of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, in Abuja, described some judgements on election matters as a “cone being turned upside down”.
Lamenting the lapses of the Nigeria’s judiciary system, the former president said, “The way things are going in this country, especially listening to the judgments being given regarding political cases, we are beginning to see that democracy in Nigeria is like a cone that is being turned upside down.
He noted that for democracy to endure in the country, people both at the Bar and the Bench should not be carried away by political influence.
“If our democracy will endure, people, both at the Bar and the Bench, should not be carried away by political influence. That is the only way we can stabilise the political process.
“I know the lawyers enjoy it because after elections there is always an avalanche of litigation, because it is like Christmas for lawyers.
But in most other countries, people don’t go to court, but in Nigeria, pre-election matters and post-election matters fill all the courts and it does not give a good sign for democracy.”
“Comparing Nigeria to other African countries and those outside Africa, because I have been able to get involved in their electoral processes, it worries me.”
Further speaking, Jonathan recounted a particular judgement which, he said, had been haunting him, “There is a particular judgment that has been haunting me and I need to mention that, luckily, I am not a lawyer, I am saying that from a layman view, it (the judgment) simply turned the cone upside down and if the courts don’t look back into this case, it will create so much instability in the political system that it would affect all of us.