This article is in response to an article written by one Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe titled: “Andy Uba remains the Legally Sworn in Governor” published in the Nigeriavillagesquare on Tuesday, 4^th day of March 2008. In the said article, Mr Ellis-Ezenekwe said:

”And in the case of Supreme Court judgment received by Peter Obi, it is important a point be made that the Justices of the Supreme Court only adjudicated on the constitutional interpretation of a governor’s tenure and not on whether the gubernatorial elections conducted in Anambra. It is also important a point be noted that the Justices’ mention of the gubernatorial election as having been conducted in error by the INEC was NOT a Supreme Court decision. The comment was made in passing while rendering the judgment that Peter Obi’s tenure will last till March 2010 and that the seating governor should vacate the seat.”

Mr Ellis-Ezenekwe continued:

“In the first place, it ought to be made clear that the federal appeals court ruling does not stand in conflict with the judgment of the Supreme Court….. The federal appeals court only adjudicated on the electoral matter brought to its court. It ruled that the gubernatorial election of April 14, 2007 as valid and that the inauguration and swearing in of the then Governor Andy Uba in May 29, 2007 as valid. And through extrapolative deduction, it implies that the election of 2007 stands while that gubernatorial election of 2003 which saw Peter Obi as the winner, also stands”

In one of my articles titled: “Before the Court of Appeal Rule of Governor Obi’s Term” published in Nigeriaworld on Wednesday 16^th day of May 2007, I discussed extensively the merits of Peter Obi’s challenges and why the Court of Appeal at the time should interpret the constitution and rule in his favor. However, the Court of Appeal did not accept my view and went ahead to dismiss Obi’s appeal. Obi was undaunted and took his prayer to the Supreme Court. It was the very decision of the Supreme Court that Andy Uba and his hatchet men are trying to see if there is a way for them to circumvent its effects on them.

For starters I wish to give a little run down of the events leading up to the latest state of affairs. A gubernatorial election was conducted in Anambra   State in April 2003. Dr Chris Ngige of PDP was declared the winner of the election by virtue of the massive rigging supervised by the discredited kingmaker, Chief Chris Uba. Peter Obi, the flag-bearer of APGA challenged the monumental fraud in the Election Tribunal. As Mr Obi’s challenge in the tribunal was going on, Dr Ngige was sworn in as the duly elected governor of the state on the 29^th day of May 2003. Mr Obi fought for the return of his mandate for 3 years and won at the tribunal. Dr Ngige appealed to the Court of Appeal and the later court upheld the decision of the tribunal and on the 15^th day of March, ruled that Peter Obi and not Dr Chris Ngige was the winner of the election as Obi scored the highest number of votes. After the decision of the Court of Appeal in his favor, Governor Obi was sworn in on 17^th day of March 2006.

As Dr Chris Ngige had already ruled for 3 years leaving barely 1 year for Peter Obi, the latter headed to the Federal High Court, Enugu , for interpretation of Section 180 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with regard to his tenure. The Federal High Court declined jurisdiction and struck out Obi’s case. Obi appealed to the Court of Appeal but the latter court also declined jurisdiction and dismissed Obi’s appeal. Undaunted, Obi proceeded to the Supreme Court. In a nutshell, that section of the constitution stated that tenure of office for a governor starts from the day the governor is sworn in and took the oath of allegiance.

As his fight for the interpretation of the constitution was going on, Independent Electoral Commission under Professor Maurice Iwu, purportedly conducted an election to the office of the governor on the 17^th April, 2007 . Dr. Andy Uba was declared the winner of election eventhough reports had it that there was no election as many people waited in vain to vote on that day but there were no ballot papers even as at 7pm on that day in many places. Andy Uba purportedly won the election and was sworn in as governor of Anambra   State . It has to be noted that few days before his swearing in, the Supreme Court warned him that if finally they determine that Obi’s case has merit, that he would be ordered to pack and go. However, few weeks after his swearing in, and by a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on June 14^th 2007 found for Governor Obi and declared that Obi’s tenure subsists until March 17, 2010 to enable him to serve out his tenure.

Armed with the Supreme Court’s ground-breaking judgment in his favor, Governor Peter Obi resumed his tenure. But not satisfied with the answer he got from the Apex court, Andy Uba went back to the Supreme Court asking it to reverse itself. Last month, the Supreme Court by another unanimous decision, dismissed Andy Uba’s appeal for reversal.

As this was going on, there were series of petitions against Andy Uba purported election of the 17^th April, 2007 . After the Supreme Court decision reinstating Governor Obi, the election tribunal struck out the election petitions as in its opinion, the petitions have been overtaken by events. The intervening circumstances being the Supreme Court’s decision that an election was purportedly held for a position that was never vacant.

Still not satisfied from the apex court’s decision reinstating Governor Obi, Andy Uba went to the Court of Appeal to determine that his election was not rendered nugatory by the decision of the Supreme Court, and that the election tribunal decision that the election petition has been overtaken by the Supreme Court judgment was given per incuriam (in error). The Court of Appeal, erroneously found for him!

It was on the strength of that ruling that informed the article of Mr. Ellis-Ezenekwe. I must say upfront that the ruling of the Court of Appeal is totally misguided, erroneous and an affront to the hierarchy of courts in Nigeria . Even the uninitiated knows that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and all its decision are binding on every inferior court including the Court of Appeal.

Section 287 of the I999 Constitution stated clearly that:

"The decision of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the federation by all authorities and persons and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court".

By the above section of the constitution; any decision by the Court of Appeal in contrast with that of the Supreme Court, no matter how slight, is a nullity. It would amount to a judicial anarchy for a Court of Appeal to go contrary to decision of the Supreme Court.

There is an age-long legal maxim called ‘stare decisis’ (stand by what was decided). That means that there is a guideline that judges follow whenever they determine cases. They cannot go against the superior court of records. Again, even if a decision of a superior court was reached in error, the court is still bound by the decision of the superior court unless and until that decision is overruled by the Supreme Court. Even the Supreme Courts decision is binding also on the Supreme Court unless it overrule itself.

Also, there is this well-known principle of law that there must be an end to litigation. There must be a conclusion to every legal cause of action. For some people that would never take “no” for an answer, they would forever be deceiving themselves thinking that they can buy every Supreme Court Justice.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly stated in Section 178(2) that:

“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.”

That being the case, the INEC was in violation of the constitution by going ahead with an election knowing full well that there was a contentious case before the Supreme Court bordering on interpretation of the constitution with regard to Gov Obi’s term of office which could possible render nugatory any election to that position of governor.

According to Section 1(1) of the constitution:

“This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on the authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The case instituted by Obi had a 50-50 chance, an INEC would have reasoned that it would be prudent to wait and see how it would turn out before going ahead with an election. However, Iwu’s INEC went ahead and purportedly organized an election, which in his little mind would circumvent whatever the decision of the Supreme Court would be in order to install his benefactor, Andy Uba.

This means that the purported election of Andy Uba as governor was an illegal act and subsequently, the mere act of swearing in of Andy Uba as governor did not cure that illegality. Going by this decision, the only time the INEC could validly organized an election to that office is 60 days before March 17^th 2010 .

Consequently, the article of Mr Ezenekwe arguing that Andy Uba is remains the sworn in governor of Anambra State is pitiful to say the least. Basically, what Mr. Ezenekwe is arguing is that the Court of Appeal decision makes Andy Uba a governor-in-waiting or worse still a co-governor. It is nowhere in our constitution that there would be two governors in a state at the same time. Andy Uba’s fate was sealed by not one, but two Supreme Court decisions. The post of governor was already occupied as at May 19^th 2007 , and any election to that office cannot be said to exist in law.

He also argued that Andy Uba’s election stands and that come March 17, 2010 ; Andy Uba would go back to the Government House, since in his opinion, the recent Court of Appeal decision did not contradict the decision of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decision as the Election Tribunal in Awka had ruled took the foundation off of any other petition pertaining to the governorship election of April 2007. Mr Ezenekwe also argued that the apex court’s ruling did not cover the fairness or otherwise of the April 2007 election. That is a correct observation. However, what he failed to understand is that the Supreme Court’s decision has rendered impotent any act in form of election to the seat of governor held on the 17^th April 2007 .

By the combined effects of Sections 1, 178, and 287 of the constitution, whatever election that was held on the 14^th April 2007 , was an exercise in futility, and a wild geese chase as was ruled by the Supreme Court last month. It is biologically impossible for a woman to conceive a second time while she is still pregnant. That in essence is what the apex court was saying.

The kernel of the Supreme Court decision as it affects INEC was that it went on to conduct an election to a position that was not vacant. This is a violation of the afore-mentioned Section 178 of the Constitution. This means that whatever the result of the election to an office that was not vacant is an exercise in futility. Whether or not the result was free and fair is immaterial.

According to the Lord Denning in the case of Mcfoy Vs.UAC:

“When an act is void, it is in law a nullity. It is not only bad but incurably bad. There is no need for an order of the court to set it aside. It is automatically null and void without much ado….You cannot place something on nothing and expect it to stand, it would collapse”

Andy Uba and his co-travelers continue to think that they can buy Anambra State with their stupendous ill-gotten wealth. It is not going to happen. One has expected Ikenna Ellis-Ezenekwe, having fallen from grace to grass and having been discredited as a hack-writer or "pepper-soup journalist, aplologies Alozie Ogugbuaja; to know that his cover has since been blown. After his nanka.org was discredited and after his Nanka town people cautioned him to stop using their town's name to curry favor and bring notoriety to them, he formed ukpakareport.com.

It was reported that he also formed ogene.com for same reason which is to take his act of blackmail to court the highest bidder. It was also reported by Governor Obi’s Media Assistant that it was because Governor Obi refused to give him contract that made Mr Ezenekwe to sell his conscience to Andy Uba with the aim of frustrating Gov Obi efforts to turn the state around. He went on publishing falsehood against the sterling activities of the Governor Peter Obi.

However, despite Ezenekwe’s antics, only yesterday, 4^th March, 2007 , it was reported in the Guardian Newspapers that Anambra government under Gov. Obi has paid down the state debt from $107 million to $15 million. It was also reported that Anambra State has maintained its lead as the most improved state in the country according to the World Bank and European Union records. This should be cheering news to the people of Anambra State all over the globe.

It is really very unfortunate that our so-called intellectuals can stoop so low to illiterate money-miss-roads. It is for the acts of people like Ezenekwe that all these illiterate money-bags do not respect Nigerian intellectuals scattered all over the world. It it for this reason that young people look up not to hard work and education but to these money bags because our so-called intellectuals like Ezenekwe has sold their souls cheap for crump at the table of Andy Uba and people like him.

Anambra people will continue to do like the owl’s kinsmen. The owl farted and asked his kinsmen to beat drums for him. His kindred told him “tufiakwa” we cannot beat drum for an abomination. Anambra people will continue to resist the antics of the Uba brothers and his retinue of praise-singers and hack-writers. We shall never, ever be conquered by Uba brothers and all the people of his ilk.

*Chukwudi Nwokoye writes in from Upper Marlboro , Maryland , USA and can be reached at nwokoyeac@hotmail.com

Robot  # 1 | 05.03.2008 21:46

This article is in response to ...Read the full article.

ikechukwu  # 2 | 06.03.2008 05:03

Supreme Court said INEC ought not to have conducted election in Anambra because there is a sitting governor (Peter Obi) following the strict observation of the constitution.However the appeal court in its usual manner upheld the election(that ought not to have been held) of Andy Uba. What it means is simple, with enough clout, anybody could go to Iwu and with his blessings conduct an election now where a sitting governor is still in charge and the result would be valid. This is crazy!

uchebush  # 3 | 06.03.2008 06:09

I think the point the Court of Appeal was trying to make in Ubah's case is that no tribunal or court can deliver a judgement on a case it has not fully heard. At best, it may strike off the matter. The question of whether the judgement implies that a new governor can be elected when the term of an incumbent is still validly subsisting is plain ludicurous. Uche Ohia

uchebush  # 4 | 06.03.2008 06:14

I think the point the Court of Appeal was trying to make in Ubah's case is that no tribunal or court can deliver a judgement on a case it has not fully heard. At best, it may strike off the matter. The question of whether the judgement implies that a new governor can be elected when the term of an incumbent is still validly subsisting is plain ludicurous. Uche Ohia

uchebush  # 5 | 06.03.2008 06:20

Well said, Mr Nwokoye.

truthsayer33  # 6 | 06.03.2008 06:44

According to Anambra State's very strange website the office of Governor is occupied by Peter Obi and Lady Etiaba. Maybe some mischief maker will amend it to include Andy Uba.Hey, maybe Anambra is the first wikipedia state!

ozion ozumba  # 7 | 06.03.2008 08:29

Beautiful piece Mr Nwokoye. Anambra State's redemption train is on course and can't be derailed by yesterday men. Mr Peter Obi is an example of the best in us which we were not allowed to exhibit during the days of the locust. Mr Andy Uba's act of clutching at straws can't buy him the State House at Awka again. Remember, his mentor is out of the saddle and the Law now functions for those that are steadfast and bold enough to seek the truth. Mr Obi is leading the way and Anambrarians are beginning to applaud every move. By the way, who said Mr Uba won the no election. Even if they succeeded in the scheme ochestrted by INEC on Anambrarians with more figures than the registered, doesn't the trend of nullifications enough warning for them to stop fooling around untill year 2010. That is only if Mr Obi refuses to take up the assured 2nd term that Anambrarians would give him on a platter; based on the giant strides he is making. But then, if Mr Obi turns down the chance, the Ngige's of Anambra are there to take on the gaunlet and serve the poeple. My advise, Mr Uba should go back to school now so as to enable him articulate what he would tell ndi Anambra when the coast is clear at Awka. Anything shot of that is wild geese chase.

Ofunwa Villager  # 8 | 06.03.2008 16:21

Beautiful response to an *****ic idea. The writer hit the bulls' eye but there is a huge mistake here. Mr Nwokoye referred to Ezenekwe as an intellectual, not just once but in two straight places. The distance between this assertion and the truth, is like trekking from Calabar to California. One of the main problems we have in Nigeria is this indiscriminate distribution of honour and titles to all manner of scoundrels and pimps. Anybody with a little known identity suddenly becomes an elite and no one raises any question as to why this infamy has become a national culture. Orji Kalu is a 'MON' and he's not about to stand trial for stealing a national honour. Andy Uba is a 'DOCTOR', not even the native doctors of his village has testified that he is one of them and nobody has summoned him for questioning. Even Ezenekwe is a 'JP', the *****ic spin doctor who hardly made sense in all his pro Uba gibberish. The same man was the person Nwokoye called an intellectual. Achebe and Soyinka will endure no greater humilliation than for anyone to rake this barely readable political jobber into their rank.

Zanderlex  # 9 | 07.03.2008 00:06

I am just wondering how distinguished villagers find time to discuss empty dream of Ikenna Ezenekwe and Andy Uba.

Anambra Movement  # 10 | 07.03.2008 07:26

Thanks Nwanna, You set the record straight for people that can't understand simple english like the "......" spending money on lawyers when his kinsmens are still poor. Ikechukwu Ezenekwe, I want to inform you that we (anambra movement, London) are preparing to file a class action lawsuit against 1. the 3 musketeers (uba brothers including your master) 2. mbadinuju 3.other fools that have caused us so much pain including the infamous anti-peter obi lawmakers. Your master WILL NEVER RULE ANAMBRA STATE.......NEVER!!!!!!!!! UNLIKE YOU, WE CAN'T BE BOUGHT ...... Thanks again brother, we need to arise and put this illiterates where they should be (prison).

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