On Tuesday 26th February 2008, the election petition tribunal told Nigerians that Umaru Musa Yar’Adua won the April 21, 2007 presidential polls. This simply means that any Nigerian who thinks otherwise should go to hell. In a four-hour judgement, Justice John Fabiyi, weighing the evidences before him, reminded the masses and its sympathizers that the law is an ass.

But let me state here that I had expected the verdict to favour Yar’Adua so it wasn’t a surprise to me. Look, I have already told the world that “I am no more naïve”. I haven’t betrayed myself in this regard. This is Nigeria we are talking about. And whatever that means. Though I had an illusion – for a while – that the verdict could be the beginning of the revolution many Nigerians have been chewing everyday like kola nut.

It did not happen. It won’t happen. Our generation is not just the type. I may love radicals but I am not a radical by nature. Life is more important to me. I love my family. Of course you may accuse me that I am not ready to die for them. Even God never instructed us to die for another. “Till death do us part” is an acronym that sticks in my mind.

To think otherwise is “UnNigerian”, and being a patriot, I do not want to lose my Nigerian identity. Forget that man who says I must be a scoundrel for being a patriot; for the salty and spicy pledge I lustfully have for my country. How could any human being in his or her right senses deliver such blow on a patriot? There are many Nigerian patriots indeed. Talking of Obasanjo, Babangida, Abacha, David Mark, Murtala Muhammad and so on. They fought and liberated the masses. 

As I was saying, I expect ardent followers of events in Nigeria to have actually known that the verdict would favour the former chemistry teacher. But many writers or commentators or essayists or whatever they claim to be decided to go on fictional spree by implying that the election petition tribunal would nullify Yar’Adua’s presidency. They confused us the more with their warped opinions disguising as objective proposition.

Even when a man who was supposed to be the judge in the case was promoted by a party to the case, the theorists still failed to adapt to pragmatic politics. They scream in their usual ignorance and disillusion: the judiciary is our last hope; there’s hope after all. They were actually responding to the fact that election tribunals have removed about 50 "elected" officials, including seven governors and the senate president.

They are still gullible therefore it’s quite difficult for them to see that Mark and co must be sacrificed as a ruse to protect Yar’Adua cum Obasanjo. It was a pre-planned agenda to confuse the masses and its well-wishers as well as the intellectuals and the so-called educated illiterates. I marvelled at the ingenuity of those PDP (People Deceiving People) members or anyone for that matter who cooked such tawdry meal that enraptured the sight and mind of those who should know.

Look at it this way. If Nigerians have been giving the judiciary a laudatory remark over the past months for a job well done, why should they change the song all of a sudden? Why should they weep now? Why should they confuse us further by castigating the judiciary they had earlier called “our hope after all”? Everyone tells the truth, says Elisabeth Bowen, until there’s something they must have. Never ever forget this quote.

So when most of the Momus went to the street singing, dancing and praising the judiciary, one old wise woman cautioned them but they refused to listen. She had told them pointblank not to count their chickens before they’re hatched. Gosh, how could any right thinking Nigerian believe a judiciary that is still led by Michael Aondoakaa.

The ruling is not for Yar’Adua but for our main man whose inordinate ambition is to rule for life. By solidifying Yar’Adua’s presidency, the election petition tribunal has vindicated Chief General Commander Olusegun Aremu Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo. This man must be dancing around “our” Ota Farm poking further fun on Nigerians. Yes Nigerians should have known: that sacking Yar’Adua would be over Obasanjo’s dead body.  OBJ still “dey Kampe” so we must not mess with the acclaimed messiah.

Hear what he told reporters in his reaction to the verdict. “It is a vindication of the fact that my administration conducted the election to the best of our ability," he said. “The election was properly conducted”.

Surely Obasanjo is born to run. I ask, when is this man’s deeds would catch up with him? When are Nigerians going to put this man in his place? When are we going to win – at least once? Or is it going to continue like this until eternity? Justice John Fabiyi’s five-man one-woman panel has affirmed that things work differently in Nigeria.

The panel has reminded and warned us that the carpetbaggers are still much around.  Fabiyi’s panel on Tuesday demonstrated that Nigeria still remains Nigeria, and that nothing is going to change sooner. Mind you, this is not about Atiku or Buhari. As far as I am concerned, it is about the notion that blatant election rigging is our way of life and it must be respected. Or in another parlance, that law is an ass.

Anyway, there is still the highest court in the land. I honestly do not know whether to look up to the Supreme Court, the only institution that has taken several bold steps in its rulings. One thing I know and in which I subscribe to, is that the election that crowned Yar’Adua as President should not in anyway be allowed to hold. Like many Nigerians I strongly believe that the election was massively rigged.

Copyright 2008              mysmallvoice@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 On Tuesday 26th February 2008, the election petition tribunal told Nigerians that Umaru Musa Ya...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 27.02.2008 10:35

Gladiator  Villager

# 2 As can be adduced from the farcical judgement emanating from the Presidential Election Tribunal and some of the Governorship Tribunals, it should be now clear that the yearned for renaissance of Nigeria's judiciary is patchy at best. By their ignoble judgement Ogebe and his co-opted lot have slapped all right-thinking Nigerians in the face with a decision that stinks with the foulest stench of corruption. The perverse decision of the Presidential Tribunal only confirms the revolting signs that the indelible hand of corruption continues to sabotage any vestige of redeemability that may reside in some of these lepers of compromised leeches that call themselves "Justices" of a court of law. What is worse is that the shameless haggling and bargaining between camp Yar’adua and these so-called “Justices” involving Ogebe’s son in the USA, the AGF (Anaakonda), Uwani Abba-Aji’s husband and others was exposed and flagged-up well before hand. And the elevation of Ogebe to the Supreme Court just days to the Judgement though ominous, and his conspicuous absence from the court room on D-Day, only served to confirm suspicions. For him to gloatingly seek to “launder” his illegal and irredeemably tainted “mandate” by a “bought” judgement suggests that Yar'adua no longer deserves to be honoured with the prefix "President". He has shown by this act and by the acts of his camp that he is no different from OBJ or IBB. This man has neither honour nor shame. He has shown in a most insidious manner what depths of malignancy he and his cronies are capable of. Nigeria beware! Posted by Gladiator| 27.02.2008 11:31

Bode_Boluz  Villager

# 3 Move on now chaps and Find what you can do to change things in your own small corner of the country. He is in the Top Job. Let him get on with it. YOU get on with what you can do positively to help improve where you live. There were disputes over Bush in the US and there are grumblings here in the over UK Gordon Brown, But folks are getting on with the business of nation building and improving their daily living standards. I suggest you Good Folks expend this excess energy on doing the same. Posted by Bode_Boluz| 27.02.2008 12:49

K_Station  Villager

# 4 Dear Hakeem, As one who has read a lot of your writings here in the Village, this is a very disappointing one! It seems your position here is driven more by an "aluta-mentality" than objectivity and realism. ....the election petition tribunal told Nigerians that Umaru Musa Yar’Adua won the April 21, 2007 presidential polls. This simply means that any Nigerian who thinks otherwise should go to hell No! It simply means that the Tribunal cannot give one ruling to every one of 150 million Nigerians, and after carefully reviewing this case , this unanimous ruling reflect their best judgement. It doesn't matter how the tribunal decide, there will be many who do not agree with it....but that is why we have judges to rule on this thing! Even when a man who was supposed to be the judge in the case was promoted by a party to the case, the theorists still failed to adapt to pragmatic politics. This is a very sad and uninformed commentary from you. Let me mention that I have stated in one of the threads in the last couple of days that "UMYA, Atiku, and Buhari are all false choices"; they do not represent the real choices of the people as would have happened in a true grassroot election primaries but rather, they are choices of the established power blocks, so I'm not a fan of any one of 'em. However I still consider your comments above unfair to UMYA. I will refer you to read an article in The Guardian today (Why Yar'Adua Cannot Win, by Isha Ogebe) to understand better how this nominations are made. The quote below should summarize the process for you (not that I think it will appease you): "As it turns out, Justice Ogebe who happens to be presiding judge on the presidential elections tribunal was nominated by the NJC in 2007 for appointment to the Supreme Court. However, when his name was formally forwarded by the executive to the Senate for confirmation, conspiracy theorists went agog, as is often the case in Nigeria, with all sorts of puerile and preposterous innuendo. Even one or two lawyers who should know better, in an effort to play to the gallery of their political clientele have made remarks totally unsubstantiated by the law or the facts. The truth is that the two judges, Ogebe JCA and Coomasie JCA were nominated not by Umaru Yar'Adua but by a group of judges of the Supreme Court and esteemed members of the Nigerian Bar Association." Despite casting aspersions on the judiciary in your article, you ended it by trying to 'rap' the Supreme Court into making a conclusion that suits your expectations. I guess you will slam them too if they uphold the Tribunal decisions (and you better get ready). This is most unfair and it undermines the basic principles of arbitration. Posted by K_Station| 27.02.2008 13:21

Hakeem Babalola  JJC

# 5 Dear K_Station, I must confess that you really got me and quite understood my position on this one. Actually, I had wanted to state categorically on paragraph two that, this article is not about objectivity parlance; that it's about emotional endearment of a Nigerian who hold a grudge against people like Yar'Adua, Obasanjo, Babangida, Abacha, David Mark and the rest of the goons, including their civilian counterparts. Oh, how I wish I had included the part. Thanks for the information on Isha Ogebe Posted by Hakeem Babalola| 27.02.2008 23:52

Gladiator  Villager

# 6 Quoting from a news site: "In an op/ed piece in today's edition of the Guardian newspaper titled “Why Yar'adua Can't Win,” Isha Ogebe, who is believed to be Emmanuel Ogebe, tried to cleverly rationalize the timing of his father's elevation to the Supreme Court. He stated that his father's elevation to the Supreme Court was concluded by the National Judicial Council (NJC) as of October 2007, and that Yar'adua merely acted as the “post master” to send the nomination to the Senate. In response, one legal analyst wondered why Justice Ogebe still remained as chair of the tribunal (which commenced sitting on the petitions in November 2007) when he was sure that his nomination would be ratified as soon as Yar’adua submits it to the Senate. “This is curious, especially when it is a well-known fact that he stands disqualified to adjudicate on the matter as soon as his elevation to a higher court was confirmed,” said the analyst. Legal analysts said Justice Ogebe and his son merely played ostrich at the ruling in Abuja on Tuesday. Justice Ogebe excused himself from reading the judgment, but he was quick to add that he consented and signed the judgment. Curiously, his son, Emmanuel Ogebe, who in e-mails and calls to Saharareporters claimed that that our reports endangered his life, was also present in court to witness the ruling." I rather suspect that the so-called "Isha Ogebe" is either a phantom, a psuedonym, or a thinly disguised Emmanuel Ogebe. Posted by Gladiator| 28.02.2008 05:10

ozoodoo  Villager

# 7 K_Station, How much did they pay you to jump around the internet defending YarArdua and his gang of usurpers? Posted by ozoodoo| 28.02.2008 05:28

UncleTisha  Villager

# 8 =ozoodoo;4294992423>K_Station, How much did they pay you to jump around the internet defending YarArdua and his gang of usurpers? So if someone disagrees with your opinion, which, by the way, you consider mainstream, that person is paid, abi? Oo. Odimma! Posted by UncleTisha| 28.02.2008 06:03

peterclaver2006  Villager

# 9 Good article. The earlier some people here realize that it will take more than a stage-managed judicial victory to crush the well-known horrendous electoral robbery that took place in April 2007, the better for them and the perpetrators of this vice whom they are desperately trying to defend. They may drown themselves in acted camarederie. They may drink themselves to stupor on the fallacy the 'the judiciary has confirmed their sham and scandalous victory. They may run mad trying to invent some silly and awkward reasoning to justifty why we should live with electoral rougery but fact remains that the moving finger has documented the facts that depraved beneficiaries of rougery are trying to justify and trying to force other Nigerians to accept. If the judiciary or some few compromised judges think they would decree the total fraud that was brought to bear on Nigeria's electoral system in April by thieving and very corrupt characters, then they need to have their heads examined. When justice becomes a cash-and-carry item to offer comfort to perpetrators of electoral crimes, who are supposed to rot in jail, then it does not worth the pieces of paper on which it is written. That, sadly, is the fate of the parody the tribunal mounted last Tuesday. Ranged against the very nausetting and very obvious facts of the electoral fraud of April, any judge that seeks to comrpomise himself by parrying the course of justice will find himself consumed by his greed. Mark my words, the five infamous judges have kick-started a course with history, which they will never win. I am quite confident that, like the so-called Obasanjo-dictated disqualification of Atiku by the professor of fraud, Maurice Iwu, last Tuesday's so-called judgment, has a temporary and very short life span and will soon end up in smokes as just another attempt by judicial perverts to offer comfort to criminals and vote robbers. Posted by peterclaver2006| 28.02.2008 07:35

K_Station  Villager

# 10 =ozoodoo;4294992423>K_Station, How much did they pay you to jump around the internet defending YarArdua and his gang of usurpers? Enough to stand up to cyber-buffoons whose senseless insinuations can only reflect their own moral turpitude. Holla! Posted by K_Station| 28.02.2008 17:08

---

The conversation continues in our forum. Click here to read all comments

---