Lawan, Akpabio: Supreme Court Warns Against “Unguarded” Comments

The Supreme Court at the weekend warned against unguarded statement targeted at the integrity of the apex court and its justices.

The court in a statement hit a United States based journalist, Farooq Kperogi, who had been “venting convoluted anger”, following its recent pronouncements which affirmed a former governor of  Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, senatorial candidates of the All Progressives Congress in the February 25 elections.

The  court, in the statement signed by Mr Festus Akande, the director of press, warned purveyors of such attacks on the judiciary and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, especially the United States-based Professor Farooq Kperogi and the Progressive Minds Forum, to desist and channel such energies to political parties which “fail to organise themselves well.”

According to him, as of the moment, over 600 cases have so far gone to court from just party primaries which were conducted by political parties without any encumbrance or interference from any external bodies. 

The statement reads, “We have watched with utter dismay some unfortunate events that have been unfolding in the country, particularly within the political landscape, for some days now.

“It is so disheartening to learn that some individuals and groups of persons who ought to know better and even assume the revered positions of role models to a larger proportion of the citizens are now sadly, the very ones flagrantly displaying ignorance and infantilism in the course of defending the indefensible. 

“In an ineptly scripted toxic article, one Farooq Adamu Kperogi, who described himself as a Nigerian-American Professor, decided to plunge into an abysmal pit of irredeemable ignorance by venting convoluted anger on Supreme Court Justices with a view to pleasing his paymasters.

“We have made it abundantly clear on different occasions that Judicial Officers are neither political office holders nor politicians that should be dressed in such robes. 

“Our silence must not be mistaken for weakness or cowardice. Certainly, every Nigerian citizen has an inalienable right to express his or her opinion without any encumbrance; but even in the course of expressing such fundamental right, we should be circumspect enough to observe the caution gate of self-control in order not to infringe on another person’s right.

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“Even in a state of emotional disequilibrium, we should be reasonable enough to make a good choice of decent words, as every word employed by the pen-happy Kperogi only succeeded in portraying the kind of vacuum that sign-posts all that he has as academic accomplishment.

“I believe those who possess similar credentials with him are obviously ashamed of celebrating any form of affinity with such a character that has an odious reputation for being a serial verbal assailant over the years, as he sees nothing good in anything good. 

“He has only succeeded in inflicting upon himself a mood of bellicose jingoism which does not represent a mark of honour for any discerning mind or academic, the world over.

“Courts don’t advertise or scout for cases for adjudication; but at the same time, we are duty-bound to adjudicate on all matters that come before us with a view to giving justice to whoever justice is due, irrespective of status. 

“No court in any clime is a Father Christmas; so, no one can get what he or she didn’t ask for.

“Similarly, all matters are thoroughly analysed and considered based on their merits and not the faces that appear in Court or sentiments that attempt to becloud the sense of reasoning.

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“So, for anyone in his or her right frame of mind to insinuate that the Justices have been bought over by some unknown and unseen persons is, to say the least, a bizarre expression of ignorance, which definitely has no place in law or even in the realm of pedestrian reasoning.

“We are not surprised with the surge of these well-orchestrated verbal assaults on Judicial Officers across the country at this period of elections.”