Alphonsus Nweze
5 November 2009
Onitsha — Tension has taken over Anambra State as the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu rules today, on the suit brought before it by former presidential aide, Dr. Andy Uba, seeking a declaration that he was duly elected as governor in the 2007 governorship elections in the state.
This is even as troops yesterday took strategic positions in Onitsha. Recently, the court adjourned indefinitely for ruling in the application filed by Uba, the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in the 2007 election.
The court presided over by Justice J. S. Ngwuta had announced the indefinite adjournment after listening to arguments by the various counsel who also adopted their written addresses in the course of the sitting, which lasted over five hours.
"This court shall adjourn for ruling, which would be communicated to the parties through their counsel at a later date," Justice Ngwuta had said.
In his submission while adopting his written addresses, counsel to the appellant, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), had argued that his client was in court to seek for consequential relief since the same court had last year upheld his election of April 14, 2007.
He said since his client had already been elected and his election affirmed by the Court of Appeal, it would be morally and legally wrong to deny him of the right to assume the office of the governor of Anambra State upon the expiration of Obi's tenure.
"The Court of Appeal sitting here in Enugu gave a ruling setting aside the ruling of the lower tribunal, which had struck out the same case based on the Supreme Court ruling that Obi should serve out his tenure, making it clear that the dismissal of the matter based on the Supreme Court ruling was erroneous. We are therefore here to insist that there should be consequential relief that should be granted to the benefit of the appellant whose election was affirmed by the Appeal Court, which of course is the final court in this case," Olanipekun who led three other senior advocates to defend Uba's application said.
Counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), Chief Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), had told the court that the commission was not opposed to the application, stating that it was totally relying on the court as to what to do upon the expiration of Obi's tenure in March next year.
In their own submissions, counsel to the first respondent, Chief Udechukwu Nnorom (SAN), and counsel to the Action Congress (AC), Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), had urged the court to dismiss the application, saying the implication of the Supreme Court's ruling in the case between Obi and INEC was that the application had become a nullity, adding that since the Supreme Court ruled that there was no vacancy in Anambra governorship seat when the said election was conducted, "it is obvious that Uba's application is unmeritorious".
Yesterday in Onitsha, a detachment of the police comprising anti-terrorist policemen stormed Inland Town Police Station, Onitsha with super motor-bikes and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC).
The policemen in unique police uniforms each clutching AK - 47 riffle are said to have come from the police force headquarters Abuja, were said to have reported to Anambra State police command headquarters, Awka before proceeding to Onitsha.
The arrival of policemen triggered off speculation among residents of Onitsha that they must have been posted to the state ahead of today's judgment.
But some said the policemen must have been dispatched to the state in the wake of the kidnap of Chief Simeon Soludo, the father of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, governorship candidate of PDP in Anambra 2010 governorship election.
But the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) for Anambra State Police Command, Emeka Chukwuemeka said the police team called SWAT is posted to the areas where crime rates are high, especially where vehicles cannot penetrate.
Emeka dismissed speculations that their arrival in Onitsha might have connections with the Appeal Court Judgment.
Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday cautioned the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and 2003 and 2007 Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, over his recent outburst that the political crisis in Anambra State may degenerate into a civil war.
This is even as the prompt intervention of the Senate President, David Mark scuttled an attempt by some senators to drag the Upper House into the political crisis in the state.
Mark had insisted that the Senate cannot be dragged into what he called the internal business of the people of Anambra State, but cautioned the former warlord to watch his tongue.
Ojukwu was reported to have said that any attempt to declare Uba governor of the state could be a recipe to another civil war.
A motion by Senator Nimi Amange PDP Bayelsa drawing the attention of the Senate to the statement credited to Ojukwu and the crisis in the state was however dismissed as the Senate insisted that it was an internal problem.
Senator Amange, ( Bayelsa State ), came under Order 42 relating to matters of national importance, to draw the attention of the house to the problems in the state.
He referred to media publications credited to former civil war leader, Ojukwu that the situation in the state could degenerate to a civil war if the outcome of the Appeal Court judgment favoured Uba.
But Mark who condemned the statement against warned Ojukwu to refrain from making inciting and careless statements.
He said: "I will advise our elder statesmen not to make careless statements. The crisis in Anambra is an internal crisis which should not affect the entire country.
"If we have similar crisis in Abia, are we going to have civil war? We have had crisis in Adamawa and we have not had civil war. If people cannot resolve their internal crisis, why should it be a national matter that will resort to civil war? We are not going to have any civil war."
Ojukwu had in the briefing where he threatened of civil war if Uba was returned said: "In my mind, what we are playing out is not anything short of playing with the possibility of another civil war.
Similarly, more and more Nigerians have continued to express their disgust over the comment credited to Ojukwu that there would be war in the country if the Appeal Court rules in favour of Uba.
The latest of such rebuke came yesterday from Anambra True Democrats (ATD), a group of progressives from across the various political parties in the state. In a statement signed by its National Co-coordinator, Chief Bernard Odenigbo, the group said it was riled by the chants of war from the man who allowed his ego and personal ambition to rule his head and in the process dragged the Igbo people to war against a country their sons and daughters laboured so hard to build.
The group also warned those who predicted that victory for Andy Uba would create constitutional crisis to have a rethink, stressing that Nigerians should start imbibing the virtue of respecting judgements of courts even when such hurt them.
Part of the statement read: "To say that victory for Uba would create constitutional crisis is tantamount to judicial ambush and intimidation and we urge the court to do what it considers the right thing. In any sane society the law is not interpreted to suit the caprice of an individual or group of individuals who think they have the machinery for propaganda; the law is as spelt out by the court of law. To do otherwise amounts to judicial thuggery and this is what Ojukwu and his tribe of war-mongers and violence brewers are trying to do. We condemn it.
"The case of Anambra is very tricky because politicians of lewd moral values have succeeded in fouling up the environment. It is therefore in the interest of Anambra people that a bit of judicial activism is deployed to stave off the crisis which the likes of Ojukwu and a few politicians in the state are plotting to foment during the February 6, 2010 governorship election. We believe the judiciary can help clean up the mess by giving the judgement that is both expedient and logical.
In a veiled response to the Soludo Campaign Organisation and the Coalition of Human Rights Organisations in Anambra State, the group said as true democrats " we have no choice but to obey the decision of the court, adding that it was the same court of law that made Peter Obi governor. If Peter Obi became governor on the strength of a court, why can't the same Peter Obi and his supporters believe in the ruling of the same court of law when it hurts them?
"Selective obedience to the ruling of a court is not acceptable to the people of Anambra State and much more to all true democrats in the country", the statement added.
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