Andy Uba Plans to Buy Justice - NewsRe: unprecedented abuse of judicial process and mischievous ploy to manipulate the justices of the court of appeal by Mr. Andy Emmanuel Uba.
1. Mr. Andy Uba’s inordinate quest to rule Anambra by hook or crook is now public knowledge, and his desire to use his enormous wealth to purchase anyone on his way to the Government house is also known. When Andy Uba had tried for the third time to ridicule the Supreme Court by trying one trick after another and boasting of his financial inducements to the justices, the Chief Justice personally intervened in the matter and thoroughly berated Andy Uba and his lawyers for abusing the court.
2. Andy Uba has now moved to the Court of Appeal, apparently to get what the Supreme Court has denied him. He wants the Court of Appeal to declare him “Governor in waiting” and for him to take over from Mr. Peter Obi on March 17, 2010 . In terms of the law and the Nigerian Constitution, this is obviously ridiculous, but for a man with excess cash, nothing is impossible with money!
3. He has boasted to many people that Justices of the Court of Appeal are “more amenable”, and that he has concluded arrangements with the President of the Court of Appeal (who retires in a month’s time and Uba claims he would guarantee him a life of bliss) and the Justices to deliver ‘suicide’ judgment on the matter. According to him, if the current Justices in Enugu prove difficult, the President of the Court would set up a new panel of his choice. Anambra people are worried and scared not only about the prospects of an Andy Uba as governor, but more so about the possible scandalisation of the judiciary.
4. We therefore petition your Lordships to please save the good names you have personally built for decades and also save the Nigerian judiciary. Several Justices and police who tried to soil their hands with Andy Uba have received natural justice (what happened to Justice Okechukwu Opene; Justice Wilson Egbo Egbo; AIG Ralph Ige who masterminded Ngige’s abduction to make way for the Ubas, etc). We petition you to intervene now, and for President of Court of Appeal to reassure Nigerians that the wild boasts by Uba are not true.
5. We raise the following issues which border us as ordinary people and wonder how in spite of these, the Court of Appeal could go ahead to deliver what Uba calls “suicide” judgment since the President of the Court would retire soon.
(a) Can the Court of Appeal override the judgment of the Supreme Court IN SC. 123/2007 MR PETER OBI(GOVERNOR OF ANAMBRA STATE ) V. INEC &ORS.?
The landmark judgment of the SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA as the apex court in this country which was acclaimed as one of the highpoints of the enduring contributions to the growth of democracy in Nigeria is reported as OBI V. INEC & ORS 2007 NWLR (PT 104) 560
As your lordship will remember, by the said judgment in OBI V. INEC, the Supreme Court of Nigeria authoritatively determined that as at 14 APRIL 2007, the tenure of Mr PETER OBI as the Governor of Anambra State was not vacant and in accordance with the provisions of Section 180(2)a of the 1999 Constitution, the tenure of the office of Mr OBI as Governor of Anambra State will EXPIRE ON 17 MARCH 2010. Indeed the leading judgment of the Supreme Court per ADEREMI,JSC clarified the position “that as at 14 th April 2007 when the 1st Respondent (INEC) was conducting gubernatorial election in Anambra State , the seat of the governor of that State was not vacant. The election was a wasteful and unnecessary exercise” .
Since the delivery of the above final judgment in OBI V. INEC, Andy UBA has repeatedly made spirited efforts to thwart the final decision of the Supreme Court by the filing of one motion after the other intending to hoodwink the Supreme Court into setting aside its binding decision. It is, to the eternal reputation of your lordship, that the Supreme Court ably presided by the Chief Justice boldly told Andy Uba and his team of lawyers that they cannot ridicule the judicial process and that the mischief propelling their motion before the Court was condemnable. In clear, but stringent terms, your lordship in open court reprimanded Uba’s lawyer.
Since the Supreme Court could not play ball, Andy Uba has now moved his theatre down to the Court of Appeal, and is confident that he has captured a willing segment of the Judiciary.
Andy Uba has changed from one Senior Advocate to as many as his enormous wealth can purchase. Having realised that the Supreme Court came down very heavily on his lawyer when he tried his gamble, he has before the Court of Appeal engaged about two Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
Before the Court of Appeal Enugu, Uba’s newly engaged Senior Advocate of Nigeria has brought a motion pretending to be asking the Court of Appeal to VARY ITS JUDGEMENT in Appeal No CA/E/EPT/7/2007 DR EMMANUEL ANDY UBA V. DAME VIRGY ETIABA&ORS which was delivered on 18 February 2008 .
However, in reality the present motion before the Court of Appeal Enugu is aimed at mischievously obtaining through the back door what has been rightly refused Uba at the front door. In the motion filed before the Court of APPEAL on 10th September 2009, Uba is once again seeking to be granted “consequential Order upholding him as the Governor of Anambra State vide the election held on 14th April 2007” which the Supreme Court described as “a wasteful and unnecessary exercise”.
(b) Is Section 178 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria no longer valid?
Section 178 (subsections 1 and 2) state as follows:
(1) An election to the office of Governor of a State shall be held on a date to be appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission. (2) An election to the office of Governor of a State shall be held on a date not earlier than sixty days and not later than thirty days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of that office. If the Supreme Court has declared that Peter Obi’s tenure expires on March 17, 2010, how can Andy Uba replace him following the result of an election held almost THREE YEARS earlier? By virtue of Section 178 of the Constitution, no election held earlier than 60 days before March 17, 2010 would be valid for the purpose of replacing Peter Obi. Of course, in Andy Uba’s mind, money can do anything.
© Is Peter Obi not entitled to a second term in office since the Supreme Court ruled that his legal term comes to an end on March 17, 2010 ?
If the stupid request of ‘Governor in waiting’ is answered, would Peter Obi’s right to contest for a second term not be impeded?
(d) If Andy Uba’s request is answered, what happens to the result of the forthcoming elections scheduled by INEC for February 6, 2010 in compliance with the Supreme Court Ruling and Constitutional Provisions?
Following the Supreme Court judgment that Peter Obi’s tenure ends on 17 March, 2010 , and constitutional provision about time table for valid elections into office of Governor, INEC has scheduled the next election for February 6, 2010 . By law, the election must hold within 60 days to the expiration of Obi’s tenure. Would the winner of that election then be ‘Governor in waiting’ also, and to take over after Andy Uba? This would be ridiculous!
(e) Even Andy Uba knows that his case before the Court of Appeal is baseless and frivolous.
Even while Andy Uba was praying the Court of Appeal to give him what the Supreme Court refused, he was busy lobbying the PDP to adopt him as the party’s candidate for next year’s election. He wrote a letter to the PDP pleading with the party to adopt him as the candidate since his 2007 election was botched, and by virtue of Section 178 of the Constitution is now a nullity. Of course, the PDP refused his request since he did not participate in the processes for the selection of a gubernatorial candidate. If Andy Uba was convinced that he had a genuine case in court, why would he be requesting for automatic ticket of PDP or making arrangement with a small political party to offer him a platform to contest the election?
(f) Has PDP as a Political Party not explicitly abandoned the Andy Uba’s quest?
By the Supreme Court ruling on Amaechi’s case, it is clear that it is the Political Party that wins the election and not the candidate. Thus, the Andy Uba’s ‘victory’ was PDP’s victory. But PDP has, in compliance with INEC’s call for nominations, fielded a candidate for next year’s election. Is Andy Uba fighting for the ticket as Andy Uba or on behalf of the PDP which is the bona fide owner of the mandate?
(g) What happens to all the candidates in that election of 2007 who dropped their legal challenges of the election following Supreme Court’s judgment and subsequent judgment by the Election Tribunal?
As you may be aware, there was literally no election in Anambra on April 14, 2007 . Major candidates for the election such as Dr. Chris Ngige were excluded from the ballot for no reason. Other candidates had petitions on accounts of irregularities and illegalities trailing the election. At best, the election would have been cancelled and a re-run ordered if the legal processes at the Tribunal and Court of Appeal went normally. However, once the Supreme Court pronounced its judgment in June 2007 in respect of Peter Obi’s tenure, there was no longer a life issue to determine at the Tribunal and Court of Appeal, and hence several of the candidates abandoned the legal processes. Recall that the Tribunal threw out the case on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment. Now, if Uba wants the Court of Appeal to award him the Governorship, would it not be common sense that the case be sent back to the Tribunal to be tried on its merit, if possible, as there are many parties to the case?
There are several other issues that border us but enough of this for now. We have heard that money is the root of all evil but the good name and integrity of the Nigerian Judiciary is priceless. ANDY UBA SHOULD BE TOLD THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY NOR RUBBISH THE JUDICIARY!
PLEASE URGENTLY INTERVENE BEFORE UBA SCANDALISES AND MAKES A MOCKERY OF OUR JUDICIARY.
Thank you.
http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4099:andy-ubas-plan-to-buy-justice-open-letter-to-the-chief-justice-of-nigeriachairman-national-judicial-council-and-the-president-of-the-court-of-appeal-&catid=116:sr-readers-letters&Itemid=393
![Nairaland [Nigerian Forum] Home](http://www.nairaland.com/Themes/default/images/english/home.gif)
Author
