Giving political parties Ward officers power to expel nat’l chairman recipe for instability – Jonathan

• He said judgements on election matters go a long way in shaping the trajectory of a nation’s democracy and determining its political stability

Former president Goodluck Jonathan has admonished judges to be mindful of the kind of judgement they deliver on political and election cases.

Jonathan gave the admonition at the 67th birthday celebration of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, in Abuja.

He said judgements on election matters go a long way in shaping the trajectory of a nation’s democracy and determining its political stability.

Jonathan particularly expressed concern regarding a court ruling that gives ward officers of political party the power to remove the national chairman.

He stated that such judgment “turned the cone upside down” as it is against natural justice and it unsettles him.

He said: “There is a particular judgment that has been haunting me and I need to mention that, luckily, I am not a lawyer, I am saying that from a layman view, it (the judgment) simply turned the cone upside down and if the courts don’t look back into this case, it will create so much instability in the political system that it would affect all of us.

“Those who would have succeeded, their victory song will not last long, because we will all be victims. Where the court says a Ward Chairman can expel a National Chairman of a political party. This is not in line with natural justice. The law is to control human behaviour and human behaviour must follow how God created systems.

“And, you cannot tell me that the Head of Department in a university, for example, can expel the Vice Chancellor. So, how can the Nigerian law tell me that a Ward Chairman can expel a national officer of a political party?

“And, since that judgment has been given, as at today, it has created all kinds of instability in the party. PDP is in crisis because of that judgment. APC, at a time, was also into crisis because of that judgment.

“I am not looking at it from a legal perspective, because I don’t know anything about the law. But when I look at how nature works, I have never seen a system where its sub-unit can discipline the top.”

“For the PDP exactly, in the constitution of the PDP, if you are a national officer, even your state cannot discipline you, not to talk about a Ward officer, who is not a member of the NEC, the National Executive Council.