Segun Sowunmi: Some Nigerians no longer see court as hope of common man

Segun Sowunmi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says some Nigerians no longer see the court as the last hope of the common man.

The ex-Ogun PDP governorship aspirant spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the launch of a report titled ‘Go to Court’ by Spaces for Change (S4C), a civil society organisation.

He said some Nigerians used the phrase ‘go to court’ as a provocative term after the 2023 polls.

“Our problem now is that the phrase “go to court” originally started as a persuasive message to take violence away from the people that are aggrieved,” Sowunmi said.

“Unfortunately, we have now metamorphosed it into an annoying, disrespectful, provocative phrase which seeks to tell us that do your worst; and that do your worst means go to court.

“We should encourage young people, especially those of them that are on social media. This whole mess is creating the chances that this country is going to get so divided.

“We are no longer able to see commonality in our advocacy. We are not able to see that what is wrong is wrong.”

Speaking with TheCable at the event, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, executive director of S4C, said the ‘Go to Court’ is about how activities of the judiciary expand democracy and how it affects the civic space in the country.

“The report is about the way the activities of the judiciary expanded open democracy in Nigeria and also the way it tightened the civic space before, during and after election cycles,” she said.

“So, we identified some of the ways that activities of the court helped to open the civic space and also provided recommendations to different stakeholders for ensuring that the civic space is preserved during electoral cycles.

“We started in January and the report was concluded in October.”