Foremost lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba- has expressed his support for the decision of the PDP presidential candidate in the just concluded election to seek redress for what he believes to be electoral injustice in the law courts.
In a series of messages yesterday on the micro-blogging site- Twitter, the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association who had earlier advised the PDP chieftain against going to court maintained that his former position was informed by his personal experiences as one of the leading election petitions tribunal lawyers in the country.
According to Agbakoba, the protocols for getting justice at the elections petitions tribunals are unnecessarily huge and in most cases- skewed against the complainants.
He revealed that beyond proving that an election had been marred by irregularities, a petitioner is also required to convince the tribunal judges that the irregularities affected the outcome of the polls.
The frontline activist for good governance is also concerned that the abrupt change in the leadership of the Supreme Court by President Muhammadu Buhari may have further heightened the odds against Atiku and his party.
According to Agbakoba, “President Muhammadu Buhari has subverted the Supreme Court by the removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Walter Onnoghen, and the appointment of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (Justice Muhammad Tanko).”
Before rounding off his message, the Anambra-state-born lawyer also expressed his displeasure with the delay in the resolution of the status of Justices Onnoghen and Tanko by the National Judicial Council- NJC.
He made it clear that it would have been ideal for the legitimacy battle at the Supreme Court has to be resolved to remove every cloud of uncertainty about the neutrality of the Court to adjudicate on the matter brought before it.