A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and lead counsel to the Accord Party, Musibau Adetunmbi, has urged the Federal Government to exercise restraint in the pursuit of political power, insisting that respect for the rule of law remains fundamental to Nigeria’s democratic stability.
Speaking on Wednesday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, Adetunmbi cautioned that excessive political desperation could weaken institutions and undermine governance if not checked, ‘’First and foremost, the current federal government should please not be too desperate about power. They should please not be too desperate about power. They should allow the rule of law to prevail,’’ he said.
His comments comes days after Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the deregistration of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Accord party and three others over failure to meet the constitutional requirements for political parties in the country.
However, the appellate Court of Appeal on Tuesday halted the Federal High Court judgment on their de-listing issuing a stay of execution order on the judgment by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court.
According to SAN Adetunmbi, “you could remember yesterday that I told you that the Accord party would do everything within the ambit of the law to ensure that we are able to defend our rights, we are able to right the wrong, and by the special grace of Almighty Allah, we were in that court yesterday. Argument was taken for and against, and at the end of the day, their lordship ruled that the enforcement of that judgment be stalled on 25th of June this year. So, we are going back on 25th of June to take the main appeal”, he said.
On the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the dispute, Adetunmbi dismissed suggestions of institutional bias, stressing that the commission was only acting within legal expectations rather than aligning with any political party, “Well, I will not say INEC is throwing its weight behind our party. INEC is throwing its weight behind the justice of the matter. It’s not throwing its weight behind our party,” he clarified, arguing that INEC’s constitutional authority in political party regulation should not be misconstrued or politicised: “The truth of the matter is that the power to deregister any political party belongs to INEC. But just like I said, this matter is subjudiced, and when it’s subjudiced, you don’t have the liberty to analyze some things, What is the business of a third party? INEC, knowing that it is within its own power, knows what to do,” he stated.
The SAN further described Nigeria’s legal system as largely functional but warned against isolated incidents being used to generalise institutional failure stressing that while the judiciary remains populated by “honest jurists,” isolated misconduct should not be mistaken for systemic decay, In the judiciary, we have so many honest jurists, at all the court of records. That’s the High Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court. But just like in every society, we have a judas, or we have the bad eggs. Society is doing everything. The NBS is doing its best, and the superficial body too is doing its best”, he explained.
He also expressed concern about the increasing number of political cases clogging the courts, arguing that such cases are affecting the timely hearing of criminal and civil matters involving ordinary citizens, “Prisoners are there. People that are accused, either rightly or wrongly are all there. They are locked up in detentions, or jail, when their cases have not been concluded. And the precious judicial time that we should have been able to spend on their case, we are spending it on political cases now because under our law, all these pre-election matters must be given priority. Political cases that are not even pre-election matter are by policy being given priority. So, we must look at our problem holistically, and we must ask ourselves, what can we do to see that we are able to put Nigeria on the path of right attitude?” he said.
Responding to concerns about judicial independence and public confidence in the courts, Adetunmbi clarified that what is often described as judicial inconsistency should not automatically be interpreted as deliberate defiance of superior court authority. According to him, “Even in all other cases most of those judges were accused of not following precedent. Not that they deliberately disobey a direct order of court. They were accused of not following precedent.” he said.
Adetunmbi also pointed to infrastructural deficits and administrative bottlenecks within the justice system, noting that many courts still operate under outdated systems, “You get to some courtroom, some of the courtrooms are not something to write home about,” he lamented.
The SAN further maintained that the National Judicial Council (NJC) has mechanisms to monitor judges, including petitions, oversight committees, and disciplinary processes.
He noted that complaints are investigated and acted upon, but insisted due process must always be observed, “They have a number of judgments that they must turn in quarterly… and any petition, if you write a petition, they will look at it,” he explained.
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