A Permanent Shut-In

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State

The seeming unending quest by former presidential aide, Dr. Andy Uba, to be declared as Anambra’s governor-in-waiting ends, with harsh words from the Appeal Court
By Anene Ugoani, Enugu
Everything that has a beginning, it is said, must certainly come to an end someday somehow. Thus, in consonance with this natural law, the over two-year battle waged by Andy Uba, ex-Presidential Aide on Domestic Affairs to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to get the courts to revalidate his victory in the April 14, 2007 governorship election in Anambra State, ended rather disastrously on Friday, November 13, 2009. On that day, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Enugu, struck out his application seeking a consequential order to declare him “governor-in-waiting” in Anambra State.
Uba, a self-confessed multi-billionaire, was elected governor on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party [PDP] in 2007, but was ousted from office on June 14, 2007 by the country’s Supreme Court on the grounds that the four-year tenure of the incumbent governor, Peter Obi, had not expired at the time the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], conducted the controversial election. In other words, the apex court ruled that there was no vacancy at the Anambra State Government House at the time the purported ballot was held. The applicant was governor in Anambra for a mere 17 days before the Supreme Court struck.
The import of the Court of Appeal judgement, therefore, is that it has beaten down the mounting political tension in Anambra State, and its environs, and cleared the air of uncertainty regarding whether or not the February 5, 2010 gubernatorial elections in the state would hold. With the failure of Uba’s suit, the coast is now clear for the governorship candidates of the different political parties to resume the race to the Anambra State Government House, Awka.
Unconfirmed reports had it that Uba, who is said to have invested a whopping S100 million in the legal battle to be returned as governor, was seen waiting at the VIP lounge of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for the judgement of the Court of Appeal. A large number of his supporters, who were transported to the court premises from Anambra State, in about 20 buses, were visibly saddened by the verdict of the appellate court. The supporters, who wore white vests with the inscription AYIM, and sang the praises of their benefactor on arrival at the court, boarded the buses quietly on their way home.
Armed mobile policemen barricaded all routes leading to the Court of Appeal, ostensibly to protect the five judges who delivered the judgement. They stoutly refused Uba’s supporters entry into the court premises. The policemen, jokingly, kept telling the supporters that they could not go beyond the road-block they mounted near the gates of the court, referring to it as the “boundary between Enugu and Anambra states”.
The throwing out of Uba’s suit by the court was a big surprise to most laymen and journalists who had been attending court proceedings, especially that of Wednesday, October 21, 2009, which ended with the parties in the case adopting their written briefs and the judges scheduling judgement for Friday, November, 6, 2009. Going by the truck-load of law books the principal counsel to Uba, Wole Olanipekun [SAN], brought to the courtroom, coupled with the manner he cited decided cases and the orders he gave to junior lawyers who accompanied him, to fetch the books he made references to, non-lawyers were left in no doubt that he would surely win.
But surprisingly, when the judgement was handed down, his client lost completely. Delivering the lead judgement, Chairman of the special five-member panel, Justice J. S.Ngwuta, said that the Supreme Court, having ruled that the seat of governor in Anambra was not vacant when the purported April 14, 2007 governorship election was held, it then means the whole thing was a nullity. He stated that the Supreme Court in the judgement it delivered in the case on June 14, 2007, did say that the “four-year tenure of Obi will start from March 17, 2006 and end on March 17, 2010”, meaning that his seat was not vacant at the time the purported election was conducted.
The judge further explained that the 1999 constitution says governorship election should be conducted “ not earlier than 60 days and not later than 30 days before the tenure of the serving governor expires”, adding that it was on this premise that the apex court ruled that the poll that produced Uba was wasteful and unnecessary. After the Supreme Court had pronounced that the election that produced Uba as governor in Anambra was a nullity, the judge said there was no need for another judgement to set aside the election of the applicant.
He also stated that Uba asking the Court of Appeal to vary its earlier judgement of February 18, 2008, which upturned the nullification of his election by the Election Petitions Tribunal, pre-supposed that he wants the appellate court to give another meaning to the previous judgement. And he dismissed arguments by the applicant that no court in the land has invalidated or nullified his election , saying “ the election was a nullity for violating the law of the land. The election, being void ab initio, there is no need for a judgement to set it aside”.
The Court of Appeal said it would be a judicial blunder to grant Uba’s application, explaining that it would set a dangerous precedent, adding that “ no court will support illegal and immoral act”.
In its comment on media reports on the Uba court battle, the presiding judge said: “ We will not lend credence to this governor- in- waiting that has dominated the media in the past few weeks. This concept of governor-in-waiting, is alien to the constitution”.
All the five reliefs sought by Uba in the suit, were unanimously refused by the court. It thus dismissed the suit for want of merit and ordered all the parties in the case to bear their cost. Almost immediately afterwards, INEC, one of the parties in the case, said it would abide by the ruling of the court. Counsel to INEC, Amaechi Nwaiwu, said the commission would immediately release its timetable for the 2010 gubernatorial race in Anambra State, now that the court had put paid  to Uba’s case.
However, there were speculations at the court that the judgement delivered by the panel of judges was rustled up following public outcry and media reports that the court justices might have been compromised. There were, indeed, rumours that the judgement the court had intended to deliver on November 6, 2009, had leaked. Some people even swore that the judges had split three to two in favour of Uba. 
Aside from Justice Ngwuta, the other members of the panel included: Kekere Ekun, Jean Omokiri, Paul Galinge and Audu Aboki. It was the persistent rumours that the judgement leaked, that compelled the National Leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance ]APGA], Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, to address a news conference on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, cautioning the Appeal Court judges against delivering judgement in favour of Uba. He said such an act could lead to another civil war in the country.
Although Ojukwu’s outburst attracted mixed reactions, even from the Senate, it is believed to have influenced the judgement the Court of Appeal delivered on November 13, throwing out Uba’s application.
Reacting to the judgement, the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, congratulated the Court of Appeal for dismissing the request of Uba to be declared governor-in- waiting in Anambra State.
Umeh said notwithstanding the Supreme Court ruling that Governor Peter Obi’s tenure would run out on March 17, 2010, as well as the unambiguous provision in the constitution on the tenure of serving governors, Uba still went ahead to file a suit with the sole aim of subverting the constitution.
The Court of Appeal judgement,  he further stated, was a vindication of Ojukwu’s patriotic call for the court to take recourse to the constitution in the determination of Uba’s application.
Also, the former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Igbo nation, Dr.Dozie Ikedife, said: “This is not the time to make merry over somebody’s failure. What we should learn from the Appeal Court judgement is that the right thing should be done at all times. We also congratulate the young man for his contributions to the growth of democracy”.