MURIC TO POLITICIANS: STOP ABUSING JUDICIAL PROCESS

20^th March, 2019

PRESS RELEASE:

MURIC TO POLITICIANS: STOP ABUSING JUDICIAL PROCESS

Two separate court injunctions stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from continuing the collation of results in Tafawa Balewa and Rivers States yesterday. The injunctions effectively compounded the dilemma facing INEC in its attempts to resolve the phenomenon of inconclusive results in five states of the federation.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has expressed gross dissatisfaction with this development. The Islamic human rights organization blamed politicians for abusing the country’s judicial process. MURIC made this known in a press statement signed by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Wednesday, 20^th March, 2019.

“Nigeria today is sandwiched between desperate politicians and a corrosive judicial system. The system holds INEC by the jugular, strangulating the electoral body in a vicious grip. Politicians are using too many injunctions to confuse INEC. They have taken liberty for licence and the system continues to condone their excesses. They approach the courts at will and, like spoiled brats, they spill the milk by kicking the cup, yet they cry over it.

“Except for very few, our politicians are too desperate and this cuts across the existing political parties. They are short in discipline, long in litigation. In fact discipline has long taken flight from their vocabulary. They pay more attention to the law courts, lawyers and judges than the citizens who voted for them. As a result, they waste a large portion of available resources on litigation, leaving too little for projects.

“It is our considered opinion that the desperation exhibited by politicians is caused by the high profit margin in politics while the recklessness and savagery are caused by a total desertification of eschatological values. Most politicians of present-day Nigeria lack piety. Impunity drives their political impulse because they find it easy to circumvent man-made law while very few among them remember that they will still render account to Allah in the Hereafter.  

“The solution lies in the hands of the incoming National Assembly (NASS) and the Nigerian people. NASS should make political posts less attractive. In particular, the salaries of members of the NASS must be drastically reduced. Judges should rely more on rationality, morality and natural justice than law in its crudeness. The judicial process must be reformed. In particular, the process of filing injunctions must be tightened.

“Nigerians must change their docile profile and become active participants in the affairs of the nation. Nigerians must be prepared to stop the excesses of the political class through non-violent but sustained agitation.

“As we rise from this session, we assert the innocence of the Nigerian electoral body, INEC. In view of the obvious desperation and excesses manifested by Nigerian politicians, the lion share of the blame for the ups and downs in the 2019 general elections must go to the politicians. Nigeria has too many political imbeciles parading the political landscape. It is these political shenanigans who collude with the courts to make INEC a victim of circumstances”.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)