It is no longer news that the Nigerian constitution was violently attacked and butchered in the most inhumane manner by “Justice” Tsammani-led panel. It is a pity. Reading through his judgment as it relates to the issue of 25% in FCT and certificate forgery, I kept shaking my head wondering why the God of Thunder chose to go on a vacation when there were lots of jobs to do on Wednesday 6th of September.
How could Tsammani look people in the eye and say Nigeria has 37 states and the presidential candidate is only required to score 25% in 37 states? How? Which 37 states? Where are 37 states clearly written in the Constitution?
The constitution in this respect is extremely clear even to primary school children. Nigeria has only 36 states unambiguously listed boldly so that the blind and judges who would pretend to be blind could also see it in sec 3(1) of the 1999 constitution.
The word “AND” in section 134(2b) was the contentious word on the issue of 25% in FCT. The argument about that section was whether the word “AND” is conjunctive or disjunctive; and whether it entails that the adjoining condition "AND the FCT" is mandatory for a return to be made.
The word “AND” has been interpreted by the Supreme Court and the petitioners stated it in bold letters and in caps and, in some cases, underlined for emphasis to draw the attention of Mr. Tsammani. The petitioners even stated precedence set by the Supreme Court, but since dueling on the word “AND” would be counterproductive to the paymaster, Mr. Teammani completely ignored it and was busy rigmaroling, dishing out irrelevancies and making conclusions based on his view.
Check the
#PEPTJudgment, and you will not find any single place where Mr. Tsammani made an attempt to define the contentious word "AND" the FCT as stated in section 134(2b). He deliberately ignored that argument which had already been settled by the Supreme Court.
In addition, the fact that Tsammani could not read what he would claim he wrote by himself simply means that the boring judgment was written by someone. This could be the only explanation for that stammering, struggling to pronounce words, and stuttering while reading the judgment.
In fact, the entirety of the 6th of September judgment shows clearly the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob.
I do hope, and I believe that the Supreme Court will right the wrong done at the presidential tribunal.