Lawan vs Machina: Judicial anarchy, it stinks to ear, not nose – Farotimi on Supreme Court’s verdict

Dele Farotimi, a Public Affairs Analyst and a retired Lawyer, on Thursday, gave his verdict on Supreme Court’s decision to restore the Senate President, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan as the Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for Yobe North Senatorial District.

Earlier this week, in a split judgement of three to two, the Supreme Court affirmed Lawan as the authentic Senatorial candidate of the APC in the Yobe North Senatorial district.

The apex court, in the majority judgement, voided and set aside the decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed Bashir Sheriff Machina as the APC candidate, having won the party’s primary election held on May 28, 2022.

Justice Centus Chima Nweze, who delivered the majority judgement of the Supreme Court, held that Machina ought to have started his case at the Federal High Court with a writ of summons given the grievous allegations in his suit against the defendants.

However, Justices Emmanuel Akomaye Agim and Adamu Jauro disagreed with the majority judgement as they held that the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal were correct in their findings, which affirmed Machina as the authentic candidate.

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Reacting to the development, Farotimi described the Supreme Court’s decision as ‘Judicial anarchy’, adding that it doesn’t make sense.

According to him, it stinks to the ear and not to the nose.

Farotimi spoke while fielding questions from journalists during an interview on Arise TV’s morning show.

Farotimi said, “You talking about the Lawan case, you spoke of the Akpabio one, and it is almost as if these are isolated cases, but the reality that you know, I know each and every one of us knows is that the Supreme Court and the Nigerian judiciary as a whole are becoming larger, it is almost impossible to get justice, and it did not start yesterday.

“Just like what happened in Imo State, a man who came fourth, I believe, is today in the government house, thanks to the Supreme Court.

“The Machina -Lawan case, it stinks to the ear, not to the nose but to the ear, then you got the Akpabio one. What you are saying is Judicial anarchy. It just doesn’t appear to make sense, but it did not start today.

He added, “We are going to a place where you can no longer trust the judiciary institution to do justice.”