Human rights lawyer and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Odinkalu, has revealed that after four weeks of delivering its judgment on the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s election appeal, the Supreme Court has not yet released the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment since October 26.
Odinkalu, who stated this in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday night, further revealed that the apex court released the Certified True Copy of its judgment on appeal brought before it by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, only on November 22.
Despite the court constitutionally having seven working days window or maximum of 14 working days to release the Certified True Copy of its judgment, the apex court released its CTC of judgment on Atiku almost a month after it delivered its judgment, while the court is yet to release the CTC on Obi’s judgment.
Atiku and Obi who came second and third respectively in the 2023 presidential election had taken legal battles against President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Following the dismissal of their petitions for lacking in merit by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, the duo appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court, which on October 26 upheld the Tribunal’s verdict, affirmed Tinubu’s election and dismissed Atiku and Obi’s appeals for lacking in merit.
Odinkalu also spoke on the huge amount of money the Nigerian government spends on conducting elections, the outcome of every election in the country and how the courts have become the deciders of the election winners and choice makers for the people of the country.
The law professor suggested that since the judiciary has become the utmost decider of the outcome of elections in Nigeria instead of the INEC, the Nigerian government should scrap the electoral body and add its budget to the judiciary.
He said, “I keep wondering why we waste so much money preparing and conducting elections when in the end it’s the judiciary that makes the final choices for us.
“Would it not be wise to add the INEC budget to that of the judiciary and scrap INEC?”
