By Val Nduka
The newly elevated Senior Advocate Of Nigeria(SAN), Barr. Ngozi Olehi, has absolved Nigerian Judiciary of being completely responsible for certain delivered political judgements in the country as erroneously believed in some quarters.
The renowned legal practitioner made the disclosure recently to some newsmen in Owerri, at his organized Reception and Thanksgiving in respect to his newly elevated position as a Senior Advocate Of Nigeria. This was in reaction to a question thrown to Barr.Olehi about how he would use his new position as a SAN to reposition the judiciary from the mess associated with certain delivered political judgements in Nigeria.
Barr. Olehi, in same interaction with the media, stated that the major problem in any Nigerian elections could not be blamed on the judiciary, rather, should be blamed on the people (Electorate), who would always derive joy in the exhibition of various forms of misconduct in many polling boots and collation centres, adding that people should also be disappointed with the performance of INEC other than the judiciary. He maintained that on no account could the judiciary be expected to move from one polling boot to another to examine the failure of the INEC.
He therefore submitted that the judiciary would always depend on the available documentations from the polling boots, collation centres and so on, asserting that the provision of wrong documentations by some people in an election would serve as a gateway to oil the intending punishment from the judiciary.
Olehi equally opined that in political judgements, there could be a mistake along the line by same judiciary, but should be very insignificant as compared to the experienced misconduct of the people during an election. He said:” if people behave aright in an election, good leaders will emerge, you know , there is this saying that in Democracy, the government fears the people, but in Autocracy, the people fear the Government”. He therefore re-emphasized that in a misbehaved state of the people and their persistent refusal to take up their responsibilities as they ought to be, the judiciary would be left with the wrong documentations to operate with.
Barr. Ngozi Olehi equally re-echoed that he would not attribute 100% uprightness to the Nigerian Judiciary allowed the time, but maintained that the body was made up of human beings that should have their own shortcomings inspite of their intellectual prowess, adding that those observed shortcomings could not be compared with the people’s misbehaviour at the boot and the collection centres which invariably would affect governance after every election.
On the request for his advice to the electorate, Barr, Olehi instructed them to vote appropriately during elections, so as to avoid sufferings and pains that would accompany wrong choice of leaders.
Conclusively, he said: ” whenever wrong candidates are voted into power by the people, there isn’t much to expect from the judiciary’.
Meanwhile, the Ngor-Okpala born legal giant used the avenue to thank God as well as the screening Committee for finding him worthy to be elevated to such a prestigious rank of a SAN.
