Former Chairman of the Governing Board of Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, has expressed concerns over the increasing trend of conflicting injunctions emanating from courts, warning that such judicial inconsistencies could push the country towards anarchy.
In a statement on Monday, Onjeh condemned what he described as the reckless abuse of legal orders, stating that the judiciary, being the last hope of the common man, must safeguard its integrity.
He warned that eroding public confidence in the judicial system could return society to a State of Nature as opined by Thomas Hobbes where the survival of the fittest prevails.
“It is becoming apparent that the Benue State Local Government Election Petition Tribunal, empaneled by the embattled Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpambese, is on a mission to subvert justice.
“The Appeal Panel, which is the final arbiter in the matter of the 2024 Benue State Local Government Elections, seems determined to deliver rulings that will make a complete travesty of the law,” Onjeh declared.
Onjeh said it was even more worrisome as Justice Ikpambese, in a viral video, had previously said he’ll put judges in the Appeal Panel that will “pepper” the Benue State Government.
He added that the embattled Benue Chief Judge seems bent on using his jurisdictional control over the Tribunals and Appeal Panel to subvert justice in the matter.
“These power-hungry detractors care nothing about public perception or the far-reaching consequences of their actions. Their desperation to control the Benue local government system has dragged the name and image of the judiciary into the mud,” he said.
Onjeh dismissed as laughable the belief of some political actors that they can manipulate the system without being exposed.
“They think they are swimming in a boundless ocean, whereas, those with the third eye to discern their political gimmicks are seeing them clearly like tiny goldfishes in an aquarium. They may deceive a gullible society, but their activities are obvious to us, and we will continue to expose them,” he asserted.
He further described the recent injunction by the FCT High Court, which ordered the relocation of the Benue State Election Petition Tribunal back to Abuja as legally and procedurally flawed.
He pointed out that the applicants who secured the injunction lacked locus standi, as they were neither petitioners nor respondents in the tribunal.
“Even more absurd is the fact that they falsely included the APC as a party in their application, despite the party not being involved in the case,” Onjeh noted.
He explained that interim injunctions are preservative orders meant to maintain the status quo, not to compel an action. However, in this case, the FCT High Court went beyond its bounds by issuing an order that mandated action rather than preserving an existing situation.
“If we allow people with no direct stake in a case to obtain such questionable injunctions, one day, someone will secure a court order demanding that the President relocates his office to their village,” he warned.
Onjeh emphasised that the Chief Judge of Benue State lacks the authority to relocate the Election Petition Tribunal from Makurdi to Abuja.
He stressed that local government elections are governed by state electoral laws.
He also dismissed the claim that insecurity in Makurdi necessitated the tribunal’s relocation, arguing that no official complaint had been made to the Governor, who is the Chief Security Officer of the state.
“Governor Alia has issued security directives barring all non-interested parties from coming near the tribunal’s sitting. More so, the NBA Headquarters in Abuja, where Justice Ikpambese relocated the tribunal, is not an open court as required by Section 83 of the extant Benue State Electoral Laws on Local Government Election Petitions,” Onjeh stated.
He described as alarming the fact that the same APC members who secured the questionable injunction are also the ones backing the petitioners at the tribunal, even though they did not participate in the 2024 Benue State Local Government Elections.
“Only candidates who participated in an election and their political parties have the locus standi to approach an election tribunal. The Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) did not recognise them as candidates, so on what basis are they demanding to be declared winners?” he queried.
Onjeh stated that a petitioner can only approach the Tribunal to challenge the candidate of another party who was declared the winner in an election, but not the candidates of his own party who emerged at the primaries.
He further noted that the FCT High Court overstepped its jurisdiction by ruling on matters concerning Benue State’s local government election laws, which are outside its territorial authority.
He also criticised the court for issuing a conflicting ruling against an earlier injunction granted by the Federal High Court in Makurdi, which ordered the tribunal to return to Makurdi.
“Courts of coordinate jurisdiction cannot overrule each other; only an appellate court has such power. The proper course of action for the applicants should have been to seek redress at the Court of Appeal, not to engage in forum shopping by running to another court of equal jurisdiction,” he explained.
Onjeh also blamed lawyers for misleading judges and abusing the judicial process for personal or political gain.
“Lawyers are supposed to be priests in the temple of justice, presenting only truthful and relevant information to the courts. Instead, many deliberately mislead judges, concealing crucial facts to obtain favourable rulings. It is highly probable that the lawyers who obtained the injunction from the FCT High Court failed to disclose the subsisting order from the Federal High Court in Makurdi,” he said.
Onjeh commended Governor Alia’s commitment to good governance, fiscal responsibility, and the welfare of Benue’s people. He said those seeking to use judicial manipulation to usurp power are the same individuals who, when in office, failed to improve the state. “They are not interested in Benue’s development—only in their own political and economic survival,” he added.
He called on the judiciary to tread carefully to avoid plunging Nigeria into chaos. “If conflicting injunctions continue unchecked, the judicial system will become a tool for political warfare rather than a mechanism for justice. The courts must resist being used as pawns in the desperate schemes of power-hungry politicians,” he warned.
Onjeh, who is a former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), called on the NJC to look critically into the recommendations of the Benue Assembly on Justice Ikpambese, as well as the petition written against him, and to act swiftly to resolve all the lingering issues in the long-drawn legal tussle in order to preserve the sanctity and integrity of the judiciary.
He also urged the appellate court to immediately set aside the FCT High Court’s order.
