Chidel Onuora is legal practitioner and activist. In this interview with EMEKA NZE, he recommends Option A-4 that saw to the conduct of the freest, fairest and most transparent election in 1993 to become the standard governing all elections in Nigeria. He also canvasses for strong institutions as well as impartial judiciary to launch Nigeria to global recognition as a democratic nation.
Looking at previous elections up to the 2023 elections in Nigeria, how healthy has our electoral process become preparatory to 2027?
The history of elections in Nigeria has been fraught with such claims as malpractices of a kind, some of them have been challenged. I was pleased, specifically, with elections in 1979 and 1983. The elections management body were populated by men of integrity at that time and so people had very little reasons to doubt the outcome of elections. Then getting to the 1993 elections which is acclaimed in Nigeria to be the fairest, the most transparent ever recorded in Nigerian history using the Option-A4 standard which turned out to be most credible even though the military, who were at the helm of affairs, for reason best known to them annulled it, and have tried to explain. I think General Ibrahim Babangida recently offered apology and stated his regrets. That kind of election, in principle, collective with modern technology should be the standard that should govern elections in Nigeria so that people would have confidence and hope, the reason being that the election management body is critical to leadership recruitment process so that the right leadership once they are in place, you can be sure of the social values, building of institutions, strengthening them once you have the right kind of leaders. I’m not talking about leaders who are ethnic jingoists; I’m not talking about leaders who take advantage of ethnic or religious diversities. That’s why elections management is key to leadership recruitment and it’s important that we have to deal with that. It is not about the electoral laws, it’s about the implementation of these laws and being honest about it and ensuring that you are neutral at all times so that the best persons will emerge. Coming to 2023 elections, of course, you can see that the election management body was seriously indicted on the election processes and procedures. You do not, as an election management body, put yourself in the position where people will begin to doubt your honesty, your integrity, your transparency in the conduct of the elections. It is the kind of thing we do not want to see. Younger generation of Nigerians should be interested in having the best leaders emerge and once you have done that, I bet you honestly, Nigeria will be on its path to greater glory. And I mean the civil society groups should be well spread across the federation, more active, decisive in their positions so that they will help society to change. They would have to build a critical value system that will sustain a strong and vibrant Nigerian state, the institutions of state must be built, strong and firm. I earlier mentioned INEC and such other institutions like the policing institutions because we have several of them- the Customs, the Civil Defence, the Immigration, the Military- they also have a role to play because sometimes, you might need them to support civil police in ensuring that there’s peace and all that. For instance, the military today has become the cement that has built the cohesion for the Nigerian state. They are the reason Nigeria is still together today. In the military, you don’t talk about your tribe or your religion. They are not the basis to assess your standard and quality as a soldier. You’re governed by the professionalism of being the best soldier. At war, for instance, you don’t hear about whether you are Hausa or Yoruba or Igbo, it is whether you’re a solid military tactician, it’s how you will deploy your material and men to achieve the best military results.
What is your expectations for the 2027 general elections?
My expectation will be a vibrant election management body, INEC, be in place, the civil society group must start immediately to bring in their very best and I’m not talking about civil societies who are beneficiaries of some of these activities because among them should be people who ordinarily should interrogate the system thoroughly to ensure that there’s no bias, that INEC itself maintains neutrality and you see some who they alleged to work with the election management body in a sense and begin to support what is unsupportable and the civil society must be clear that there’s so much hunger in the system and so people now choose to survive and persons who ordinarily should help society to survive will become partners in this whole thing. What kind of progress would you expect under such circumstances? And so I will want a vibrant civil society to begin to hammer the values of elections and then the neutrality of INEC, to tell them that look, this is a recruitment process of our leadership and that the best kind of leaders must emerge, people who have the interest of the nation at heart, people who want the best for the Nigerian people. I’m not talking about people who have the interest of self or clan or who are nepotistic. That is not my expectation if Nigeria must move forward. And so the right kind of alliance for political parties and politicians who are running for offices must purge themselves completely of nepotism, tribalism, ethnocentrism and realise that what is critical for us is to build the right kind of society that will help our socio-economic growth in Nigeria.
In the front burner in Nigeria today is that the judiciary is one of the arms of government that has compromised its functions. What’s your take on allegations of bribery and corruption against judges?
That’s a bogus allegation, I do not want to completely agree with that. It’s also speculative. But no society is completely free of corruption. But I will tell you that corruption in the judiciary will mean that the entire national fabric will disintegrate because the law has put us into everything, I mean the law is the basis of our union so the expectation will be that the rule of law prevails so that every judge assigned to a case must be neutral, blind to colour, blind to race, blind to any ethnic or political interest. I do not understand how a judge will have political affiliation, for instance. I do not understand how a judge will begin to dabble into political matters, it is not the judges calling. The judges must stay aloof from all of these. The virtue required of a judge is that, at all times, he must dedicate himself to the service of humanity, assuring at all times that without ill-will or favour to any party, he delivers justice to the best of his ability. Of course, you know we have the hierarchy of courts, essentially to deal with the issues of appeal where you are dissatisfied with a particular judgement, you could go on appeal where you have more number of judges, three of them at the Appeal Court, to look at the decision of the court, to determine as alleged whether there was error of law or fact or misdirections in dealing with the issue of the trial court. That hierarchy continues to the Supreme Court where you have five of them who will sit and on serious legal questions or cases (constitutional matters) convene the full court of seven justices to look at it. It is an onerous duty, it’s a divine calling, a judge is like God on earth and then has that onerous responsibility to himself, to God and to mankind to ensure that he does what is appropriate, otherwise such society dismembers to their ultimate detriment for these judgements will inter with their bones and speak long after them to the judgement of posterity.
So where lies the allegation that certain politicians go about with court judgements and orders in their pockets and fling them at whoever it may concern? Does this hold water?
Well, I have heard such claims and allegations. The extent to which they are true is doubtful. I do not see where a judge who knows himself as a judge will aid that. You know I’m a son of the profession, my late father was a lawyer and most of his friends were judges, justices of High Court, some of them his classmates, some of them associates and friends. I recall those days when you visit a judge, the aura of a judge is so evident and clear. How will you get a judge to connive to such demeaning act. You’ll never get opportunity to see him again. Perhaps society is degenerating, there’s no doubt. You know the socio-economic circumstances of Nigeria in itself also is degenerating and standards and values are falling but I do not think that someone who is admitted to the bench will allow himself, except he does not know who he is, except he doesn’t know his value because I don’t understand how someone will walk up to you and tell you ‘I will give you so, so and so so that you give judgement in my favour or get a judgement even before the matter is heard’. I hear such allegations, they are strong. Sometimes, too, the kind of judgements that come out will suggest such things but it will also depend on the judges perspection to an issue that is before him, so when he takes a position, he takes it from his understanding of the case. Like I said, that is why you have the hierarchy of courts. If you are not satisfied, you go on appeal. I do not see how the consciences of all justices will be bought at the same time. You know we still have dissenting judgements. That would mean that not all the judges could have been pocketed.
The lawyers allegedly contribute immensely to compromising judges. From your experience as a practitioner, do you have instances of these?
I must tell you honestly, I’m not aware personally. You know I have done quite a number of cases and I have won quite a number of cases, I did not have to bribe any judge. Through the hierarchy of courts – from the High Courts to the Court of Appeal – and I have not had to bribe any judge. The justices who were confronted with the cases looked at them and decided them on their merit. When they were challenged, the Court of Appeal sustained the judgements of these courts. In some cases, the judgements were clear enough, they did not bother appealing against such judgements. I have not had such a situation where I will believe that the other lawyer may have bribed the judge, I have not had that personal experience. And by the way, I have lost cases too, some of them on appeal now which I believe, they will be overturned because I have a clear understanding of the cases we have done, the application of law to them what the judgement could predictably be. So that when they do not turn out to be those predictions, you know law is science too, it’s empirical. The common law judges sit on the bench and develop the law and laid down principles that are followed in the determination of cases that look alike as those earlier decided, the doctrine of Stare Decisis – keeping to precedents- it makes the law predictable so that when a client comes to you looking at the law and knowing the clear position of the law and as they apply to such circumstances and facts that the outcome of such a matter will be clear so you can predict what the outcome will be knowing that it is difficult for persons to influence such a judgement. But I tell you honestly, sometimes you begin to think that the standards also have fallen in a sense because the process of appointments or recruitment of judges today, so, some have criticised the court for good reasons. Sometimes you will notice a judge may not be abreast with what the law is but it is not expected that you must be the erudite Eso, Oputa or Uwais and their likes, you must not be the fine justices of the Supreme Court of yore, who have strong intellect, who have deep understanding of the law and all of that, but you see, it’s a function of hard work, determination, research so that any judge who has been appointed who determines to work hard could come to such level of excellence as well.
Who determines the selection of people to be conferred with the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN? Is there any form of abuse?
The Ethics and Privileges Committee of the NBA has that responsibility but of abuses, not exactly, but you could also say that just as much as society has degenerated in values and all of that, such influences may occur in some situations but I cannot tell you it is of general application. We still have a very strong bar. The Ethics and Privileges Committee is populated by sound reasonable lawyers who are passionate about the profession and want the best to emerge. You might have sprinkles of these; I cannot vouch for it. I cannot say entirely that it is correct, it just might be in some situations but I can tell you that any Senior Advocate of Nigeria that is so elevated, I can tell you, he’s got stuff to prove that he is worth his silk. But again, as a profession, we must be mindful to ensure that the best of these people emerge. I for one, I’m not an advocate of conferring silk every year. It should really be for an exclusive class whose practice have incisively and truly led to the development of the law and the legal profession. What you sometimes hear from colleagues require things to be fully interrogated. I’ll expect that it happen in our profession where the soundest of lawyers emerge as Senior Advocate of Nigeria, so that you have no doubt about these qualities and standards, so that we lay all of these allegations to rest and when you see a senior advocate and he speaks, you know that one has spoken.