Lagos — Last week, the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, threw out the application of Dr Andy Uba, urging the court to declare him the governor-elect of Anambra State. Ademola Adeyemo in this report, lists the political options available to Uba in realization of his dream to govern Anambra

After several months of legal battle, the governorship ambition of Dr Andy Uba former Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Domestic Matters last week suffered a major setback. The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta told Uba in plain term that he was not the governor in waiting, as claimed by the former presidential aide.

The Historical Verdict

With the last verdict, Uba's hope of succeeding Governor Peter Obi without fresh election crashed irretrievably.

Delivering the unanimous decision of the court which had put the nation in suspense for weeks, Justice Ngwuta said that although it had jurisdiction to entertain the application, after due consideration and looking at the arguments by the applicant and respondents, the court had no choice than to dismiss the application in its entirety as it "lacks merit and has no moral basis and will be a judicial blunder of immense proportion to grant the reliefs being sought."

According to him, the Supreme Court had ruled that Obi's tenure runs from March 17, 2006 to March 17, 2010, and ordered that Uba who had been returned by INEC and sworn in as the winner of April 14, 2007 governorship election of Anambra State, vacate the office immediately for Obi to complete his tenure since there was no vacancy in the first instance.

Ngwuta maintained that Uba's argument that he was governor in waiting since no tribunal or court nullified his election, did not hold water since, according to him, the court or tribunal cannot nullify what does not exist. He wondered why where Uba got the governor-in-waiting appellation. He said, "The seat of power in Anambra State is not a hereditary stool. It is only through due process as prescribed by the electoral act and the constitution that somebody can be elected to occupy that seat. The election that brought Uba was an illegal act and nobody demands right or relief on illegal act. Accordingly, reliefs one to four are hereby dismissed and consequently the application is dismissed.

The Appellate Court said that based on the Supreme Court judgment, which said that Obi remains governor till March 17, 2010, the election of Uba therefore violates Section 178 (2) of the 1999 Constitution which prescribes that election to the office of the governor should hold not earlier than 60 days and not less than 30 days to the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent.

Granting the application, according to him, will equally rob Obi of his right to seek a second term in office in line with the law, as well as disenfranchise those who were not of voting age in April 14, 2007 but who will be in March 17, 2010.

The court maintained that the consequential relief being sought by the applicant was substantial in nature after critical examination but that enough evidences were not taken in that regard. He stated that since the court remained the final court in governorship election cases, it had become very important for it to be careful in granting the relief so as not to foreclose the right of others to seek further redress. Other justices of the court were Kudirat Kekere Ekun, Paul Galinje, Abdul Adoki and Jean Omokiri

However, before the judgment, different kinds of rumours were all over the town as to what the verdict of the court will be. A rumour mill had it that the ruling would be in favour of Uba and that the court would order that he be sworn in immediately as the "governor-in-waiting." The idea of Uba's declaration as governor had thrown political gladiators in Anambra State into panic. the implication was that if Uba was sworn in as governor, that would automatically nullify the 2010 governorship in Anambra State, which meant that all candidates including the incumbent Governor Obi who has signified his interest in going for a second term in office, PDP candidate Professor Chukwuma Soludo and others will have to sheath their ambitions till the year 2013

Legal Adventure

However, Uba's name has entered into the book of record as the governor with the shortest tenure in office, having vacated office for Obi, after only 17 days in office.

Also, the former presidential aide will go into history as one of the most litigious politician in the present dispensation. The legal adventure to reclaim his mandate of April 14, 2007 started shortly after the June 14, 2007 Supreme Court's verdict which granted Obi's prayer to complete his tenure of four years, counting from 17 March, 2006, when he was sworn-in.

Uba first filed an application before the apex court urging the court to reverse itself. However, Supreme Court nipped the case in the bud by dismissing the application. The court in its ruling, observed that Uba's attempt to lure it into setting aside its judgment which was delivered on 14 June, 2007, was a gross abuse of the court process. It maintained that there must be an end to litigations.

Specifically, the court insisted that it must bring an end to Andy Uba's frequent abuse of court processes and dismissed his application.

According to Chief Justice Idris Kutigi: "In order to foreclose a further gross abuse, this application is hereby dismissed. This court considers this matter as closed."

The apex court went ahead to award the cost of N30, 000 against Andy Uba in favour of all the respondents.

Undeterred, Uba made another visit to the apex court with a motion praying it to reverse the dismissal of his application. This, he later withdrew on 7 May, 2009.

Having failed at the Supreme Court, Uba made a u-turn and approached the Appeal Court. His prayer was answered when Justice Mohammad Muntaka-Coomasie-led panel on 18 February, 2008 ruled that Uba's election as governor on April 14, 2007 was in order.

Elated by this ruling, he filed another application on the same day, praying the court to give a declaratory judgment on its ruling. Uba's argument was that since his election was not nullified by the Appeal Court which is the final court in an election matter, it meant that he would take over the reins of government from Obi in 2010 after the expiration of his term.

He maintained that since the court was silent about this, it meant that his mandate as a governor of Anambra remains valid. This pendulum of opinions has been swinging back and forth, while the people of Anambra and the rest of Nigerians awaited the judgment of the Appeal Court on whether Uba would take over as governor at the expiration of Obi's tenure, that there should be no fresh election as scheduled to hold in February 2010.

While this was going on, a lot of new words were introduced into the political lexicon. They include "a governor-in-waiting" However, the November 13, 2009 land mark judgment of the Court of Appeal ended the waiting game and validate the forthcoming February 2010 election.

Reactions

Reacting to the verdict, Uba in a press statement said that he had accepted the judgment of the Court of Appeal. He however, urged his supporters not to give up hope, but keep dreams alive "because collectively, we have a great future." According to him, "I wish to state with profound candour that I have accepted this judgment."

Surprisingly, Uba's party, PDP which was believed to be urging him on to reclaim his mandate made a u-turn. In its official reaction to the Appeal Court verdict, the party said it had vindicated its decision to participate in the 2010 gubernatorial election in the state.

PDP National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke, said the judgment would have embarrassed the party should it have failed to nominate a candidate for the 2010 poll.

While advising Uba to accept the verdict since there is still hope in the future, the party hailed the judiciary and hoped that they would continue to find courage in adjudicating similar matters.

However, the party regretted the delay witnessed in adjudicating the matter, saying "the delay and the level of attention given to it generated confusion in the minds of the public as to what they were going to do."

Oke said: "It's a case that put us in a divided disposition. Now that the court has spoken, as far as we are concerned in the PDP, it is acceptable to us. It means we were right in what we were doing. We stand vindicated,"

He also appealed to Uba to support the party's candidate, Soludo: "I would ask him to accept this. He has put up a good fight but the judiciary has spoken. He is still a highly regarded member of our party. In all that he was doing, he was fighting for his rights and not against the PDP. Now that the judiciary has spoken, I expect him to join hands with the party to ensure that we deliver our candidate together.

"There would always be opportunities. He is a highly revered person in Nigeria and there are many levels of service. If he is not going to be governor of Anambra State tomorrow, he can serve at other levels. He should not see it as a personal loss because the PDP will also benefit from it," Oke added.

Also reacting to the judgment, INEC hailed the judgment as "very thorough and in-depth," noting that it had finally secured the clarification and guidance which the commission had while the case lasted prayed the appellate court to provide to them.

"The judgment is a landmark decision in the sense that the court has laid to rest all the controversies concerning the governorship seat of Anambra after March 17 next year. We'll abide by the judgment by going ahead to conduct the scheduled election in the state next year. We are happy,"

Options Before Uba

Now that the coast has been cleared for INEC to go ahead and organise the February 10, 2010 election, many political observers are wondering about what will become of Uba's ambition to govern Anambra State, especially with the PDP's endorsement of Soludo as the party's official candidate in the 2010 election.

Which steps are available to the former presidential aide? Some analysts believe that with the court's verdict, the heat in Anambra politics will become fiercer, as another strong force will now put his head into the struggle for government house in Awka in person of Andy Uba.

Will Uba now attempt to scuttle Soludo's candidacy and support another candidate through litigation? He may as well throw his support for Soludo to satisfy the wish of the party leadership. another option before him is to realize his ambition through the ticket of another party in the state. A willing and compromised party can substitute its candidate with Uba in order to increase its chances at the poll. Uba can as well forget his ambition to rule Anambra State by accepting his fate.

However, whichever path Uba chooses to trek, one thing is clear, and it is that he is no more the governor-in-waiting