•Kanu Agabi
A former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Kanu Agabi, says those who nurse suspicion against elections in Nigeria have justifiable grounds to seek redress in court.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who was AGF under the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, was a guest on Channels Television yesterday.
Agabi, 78, said it is an abomination for politicians who rigged their way into public offices to call on God for help when they encounter socio-economic roadblocks in elective positions.
He said the 1999 Constitution has been amended many times. So, the problem is not with the laws but with “good people to enforce them. We need to reform ourselves as a nation”.
‘Appoint More Judges’
Agabi said the courts are burdened with electoral cases because Nigeria’s elections come under “justifiable suspicions”.
“We keep talking of reforming the judiciary. We keep attacking the judges, we stigmatise them, we abuse them, we insult but the truth is this: we have very good judges.
“The judiciary is not perfect but it is the best arm of government. The problem is this: On the judges’ lists, there may be 30, or 40 cases a day. How can he cope? As long as they go on struggling with that system, they cannot cope.
“The problem of the judiciary arises from the fact that the judges are overworked,” the ex-justice minister said, urging the government to appoint more judges and more magistrates to decongest the courts of cases.
“Take the elections for instance. Do you know how many percentages of elections are challenged? Why? Because the elections come under justifiable suspicions. Those who suspect the elections are justified but if we reach a point where the elections are not opened to the kind of criticisms and suspicions that they have been suspected, then they can free up the courts.
“Primaries are rigged at the party levels. Giving a spiritual dimension, when you have stolen the office that you are holding, do you expect God to partner with you? Can you pray over that office? Can you use it to do any good? That’s the problem.
“St Paul said I am an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the grace of God. Whatever office you hold, you must be able to say the same thing. You must be able to say, ‘I am a governor by the grace of God’, ‘I am a senator by the grace of God’. If you can’t say that, your prayer in calling upon the name of the Lord in that office is an abomination.”
Agabi lamented that leaders in Nigeria are taking the country backwards. “We are coming from colonialism but our leaders are taking us back for the love of more houses, more wives and more money,” he said.
