Leadership (Abuja)
Nnamdi Mbawike and George Agba
14 November 2009
Enugu/Abuja — The bid by the 2007 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State , Chief Andy Uba, to reclaim his lost mandate was finally laid to rest yesterday when the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu dismissed his application seeking to be declared governor at the expiration of Governor Peter Obi's tenure.
The court in a unanimous judgement, held that the seat of Governor Peter Obi was not vacant when the 2007 gubernatorial election was conducted in Anambra State .
Uba, had gone to the court to ask for a consequential order validating his election as the governor of Anambra State in 2007, which was upheld by the same and another consequential order restraining INEC from conducting another election at the expiration of Obi's tenure in 2010.
Lead counsel to Chief Uba, Chief Wole Olanipekun had during the hearing of the case told the court that the application of his client when granted, would not overrule an earlier decision of the Supreme Court, which declared the election of his client as a nullity.
He referred the court to page 642 of the Supreme Court judgement, where Justice Aderemi, who had read the lead judgement of the apex court that asked Uba to vacate the seat for Obi, was quoted to have said, "We are not sitting as an election court; what Obi brought is not an election matter, but to interpret his tenure," and insisted that the lead judgement of any court is the judgement of that court; adding, "And in Obi vs INEC, the lead judgement is that of Aderemi."
The lead counsel to Uba reminded the court that no court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction has nullified the election of Andy Uba, adding that the applicant was still in possession of the certificate of return issued to him by INEC.
In his own argument, counsel to one of the respondents, Chief Nnoruka Udechukwu (SAN), submitted that the court cannot on the basis of a process that runs foul of provisions of the constitution, grant a right, as the applicant is trying to have done, noting that to answer questions raised in the current application, one must look at the Supreme Court decision relied upon by this court.
His words: "The Supreme Court was to interpret the tenure, which it said will end on March 17, 2010. The implication of that in view of Section 178 (2) of the constitution, is that there could not have been an election in 2007 to fill a vacancy that did not exist and could only exist after March 17, 2010. The applicant is relying on the certificate of return of 2007, to regard him as the governor in waiting in 2010, by which time there would have been a vacancy."
Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Nwani Ngwuta held that the Independent Electoral Commission had held the 2007 gubernatorial election in Anambra State when there was no vacancy, maintaining that it was not conducted in accordance with the 1999 constitution, which provides that an election must be held not earlier than 60 days before the expiration of the office of the incumbent and not later than 30 days .
Justice Ngwuta said that although the court has jurisdiction over Uba's application, the 2007 April election that led to his emergence as governor was held while the incumbent governor of the state, Peter Obi was in court, challenging his removal from office, despite the fact that INEC was a party to the suit.
He agreed with an earlier verdict of the Supreme Court that there had been no vacancy before the 2007 election was held, maintaining that Obi's four-year tenure was from 17th March, 2006 to 17th March 2010.
"It will be a judical blunder to grant this application and the effect will be too disastrous to contemplate. The election was not conducted in accordance with the supreme law of the land. If granted, it will bury the rights of Anambra State people. It is not supported by any point of law, the election of Uba was illegal. The application has no moral tone. It is hereby dismissed for want of Merit" he added.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the judgement, counsel to INEC, Chief Amechi Nwaiwu commended the court's indepth resolution of the reliefs sought, disclosing that INEC would soon release the timetable for the 2010 gubernatorial election in Anambra State .
Also speaking, Prince Nwafor Orizu, counsel to one of the respondents, Nicholas Ukachukwu , berated lawyers for wasting Uba's money in what he described as a frivolous case, insisting that they should have advised him not to bring the application before the court.
The judgement saw many of Uba's supporters, who had stormed the court as early as 6.30am, burst into tears outside the court, as they had initially thought that the PDP chieftain would emerge victorious .
Uba had made three unsuccessful attempts to persuade the Supreme Court to revisit its judgement that had removed him from office as the governor of Anambra State.
The Supreme Court had held then that Obi's tenure was subsisting and would only terminate in March 2010.
Uba and his party had last year filed an application to the Supreme Court, asking it to set aside its judgement that annulled the April 2007 governorship election in Anambra which was won by him (Uba). The Supreme Court, however, declined the invitation and dismissed Uba's application.
Uba had argued that although the Supreme Court asked him to vacate the office for Obi to enable him (Obi) complete his tenure, the apex court did not nullify his election as governor of Anambra State.
In his appeal to the Court of Appeal, Enugu, filed by Chief A.A. Aribisala SAN, Uba had asked for the following orders; "An order of this court allowing and directing Dr. Emmanuel Andy Uba, being the duly elected governor of Anambra State, by virtue of the governorship elections held on the 14th April, 2007 to take over the seat as governor of Anambra State upon the expiration of the tenure of Mr. Peter Obi on the 17th March, 2010.
"An order of injunction restraining INEC from appointing a date for election and conducting a fresh election to the office of the Governor of Anambra State before, on or after the 17th March, 2010 pending the determination of his term of office from 17th March, 2010".
He raised several grounds upon which the Appeal Court must grant the orders, but of particular importance is paragraph 4 where he said, "the election and return of Dr. Andy Uba were not part of the ratio/issues considered and pronounced upon by the Supreme Court in its final orders".
In what appeared to be a rehash of an earlier case which was dismissed by the apex court, PDP and Uba had also lodged another appeal at the court, challenging the refusal of the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal to set aside an alleged faulty notice of appeal which formed the foundation of a Supreme Court judgement that nullified the governorship election of Anambra in 2007.
Undeterred by the judgements against him, Uba and his party returned to the Court of Appeal in Enugu, asking it to set aside its judgement, which resulted in the appeal to the Supreme Court, upon which Uba was sent packing from the Anambra State Government House.
The Court of Appeal refused his application on the grounds, among others, that the Supreme Court had determined the case and that the principle of stare decisis precluded the Court of Appeal, being a lower court, from inquiring into the case again.
In the new notice of appeal to the Supreme Court, Uba and PDP said that the justices of the Court of Appeal were wrong to have refused to set aside their judgement.
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