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Nigeria: Court of Appeal May Defer Judgement On Enugu Governor Election
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Leadership (Abuja)
7 July 2008
Posted to the web 7 July 2008
Chuks Ohuegbe
Enugu
As the Court of Appeal rules tomorrow in the Enugu State governorship election, there are fears that the date for the ruling may be deferred, as the justices may not sit.
It was gathered that the justices may rather meet in Abuja, in what our sources described as need for "opportunity to harmonise views on Enugu".
The electoral tribunal on the Enugu State governorship election had nullified the election of Governor Sullivan Chime of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) consequent upon which the embattled governor headed to the Court of Appeal.
The embattled governor who was in Katsina State last Saturday, we learnt, met with one of his governor-colleagues from the North-East geo-political zone, who is said to have promised convening a meeting of the concerned justices in Abuja same Tuesday when they would have been delivering their ruling in Enugu.
LEADERSHIP, however, could not ascertain from the Court of Appeal, Enugu, if the date for the judgement had been postponed, as at the time of going to press.
The judgement said to have already been written and which by legal interpretations appeared certainly going for a re-run of the Enugu governorship election, is now said to be subject to the intervention and possible doctoring as coordinated by the North East governor. The message being sent to other justices was that there were needs bordering on security to sit in Abuja and harmonise views on Enugu .
However, our sources said that the judges may be caught in the myriad of pressures of their conscience, realities of current judicial activism and popularity, legal facts and wide public mood on one hand as against the pressures of interest as represented by the said North East governor and his manoeuvres. Some of the judges are already said to have been very wary of acting against the truth, their personal reputation and conscience, taking also into consideration the notoriety of Enugu as reputed for ending careers of "used" judges.
But more importantly, judges said to be privy to this current manoeuvres, are said to be highly tensed on the possible implication of any mis-step in Enugu on the overall reputation of the judiciary, which, as one of the sources said, had come of the conscionable interest in furthering democracy as well as the courage and foresight of the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi.
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Tongues are already wagging in Enugu as to the impact of the possible announcement of the postponement, since, according to government sources, Chime had earlier moved his belongings from the Government Lodge to the Attorney General's quarters, M.9, which was monetised for him in the administration of Chimaroke Nnamani.
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