On what should the authority of the SC rest – the finality of its decisions or the majesty of its reasoning?
The decisions of the SC command obedience by reason of their finality. However, the reverence of the people for the court lies in the majesty of its reasoning and justness of its decisions. The SC that increasingly leans on the finality of its decisions is one that is at risk of losing its most precious asset, which is the reverence of the people for the court and its decisions.
No despot by means of tyranny has been able to hold down the people forever. What sustains authority is reason. What sustains society is reason and the SC is at the apex of reason. The SC declares reason for the guidance and ordering of society. Where therefore the people lose reverence for the reasoning of the SC as the Court in decision after decision between the politically powerful and the politically weak chooses the side of the former with reasoning that at best raises the suspicion of the average reasonable man, the stability of the society is put at risk.
It is good that the SC bears this in mind and does not for even a fleeting moment think that because its decisions are final, it holds all the aces. The SC should remember the French Revolution and the Arab Spring. The people of Nigeria are on the edge at the moment. We do not know what and when would be the tipping point, and the frustrations will boil over.
