Former President Goodluck Jonathan expressed concern over the state of democracy in Nigeria during a speech at the 67th birthday celebration of legal expert Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, held in Abuja on Thursday.
Jonathan questioned the authority of a department head to expel the vice chancellor, emphasizing the troubling trends in the country, particularly regarding judicial rulings in political matters.
He specifically referenced a Supreme Court decision that shocked him: the ruling that a ward chairman of a political party could suspend the party’s National Chairman. Jonathan found this judgment perplexing and argued that it undermined fundamental democratic principles.
According to Vanguard, Jonathan said, “You cannot tell me that the head of a department can expel the vice chancellor.”
He metaphorically described democracy as a cone, suggesting that the Supreme Court’s ruling flipped it upside down. “When a cone is turned upside down, it cannot stand because any little thing that touches it will cause it to fall,” he remarked. Jonathan warned that such legal decisions could destabilize the nation’s democratic framework.
Furthermore, he asserted that granting Ward Chairmen the power to suspend their National Chairmen deviated from the principles of natural justice, raising further concerns about the integrity of political structures in Nigeria.