The rulings rendered by Nigerian judges in electoral disputes have been referred to as “cathedral judgements” by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He asserted that the decisions made by millions of voters during elections should not be overturned by a panel of three to five judges.
Obasanjo declared that the authority held by a small number of judges was completely intolerable.
The former president appeared to be discussing recent rulings by the Court of Appeal about electoral challenges resulting from the nation’s elections in 2023.
Three opposition governors were recently removed from office in separate rulings rendered by the Court of Appeal justices.
Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State, Abba Yusuf of Kano, and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State are among the governors who are impacted.
The court has received more criticism than praise as a result of the decisions.
At the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library’s Green Resort Legacy in Abeokuta, Ogun State, for a high-level consultation on Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa, Obasanjo criticised the judges’ “cathedral pronouncements.”
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“I believe that no matter what kind of democracy or government we have, the decisions made by millions of voters should not be overturned by three or four men in the judiciary,” he declared.
We need to figure out how to deal with that now. I’m not sure how it will turn out, but I find it very intolerable that millions of votes—possibly 10 million on one side and nine million on the other—were cast. Five persons are seated at that point; three of them concur, and two do not. And you stand up and make immutable cathedral pronouncements that, in my opinion, shouldn’t be acknowledged.
“What is the process? I’m not sure. But regardless of the type of democracy we have, we ought to consider how to address this. What would happen to the last election if you were to say, “Go for it again”? I’m not sure.
