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A day before a clearly crooked presidential election
tribunal insulted the intelligence of Nigerians, by using farcical deployment
of aspects of the law to carry out the affirmation of Yar'Adua/Goodluck as President and Vice
President respectively, a roguish governorship election tribunal in Abia state
had done worse. It is clear to clean minds that the presidential election
petition perverted the rules of evidence at will, astronomically escalated the
legally required litmus test petitioners had to meet to prove that a wrong was
wrought to them during the election, and egregiously demanded proof of
speculative election outcome from petitioners. It is also abundantly clear to
legal minds that the Abia state governorship election tribunal tossed the
Nigerians constitution into the toilet in order to foist PDP's Ugochukwu
Onyeama on the people of Abia State . If the action of this Abia election
tribunal is not roundly condemned and reversed by higher courts, any reign of
Onyeama as governor of Abia state will be nothing short of the reign of
roguery.
Before some
uncouth urchins utter their signature curse words and accuse me of having
gotten paid to express my opinion, let me make it clear that I am not a
supporter of T.A. Orji or that of the PPA. I write more in condemnation of
injustice than in defending T. A. Orji. In this respect, I have been consistent
because when Orji was "elected" governor, while in jail awaiting
trial for a slew of corruption charges, I raised hell and wished that the EFCC
and the courts would not release him to become governor. I was chagrined that a
man, whose alleged crimes were hefty enough that a court denied him bail, could
"win" election in Igbo land from prison. In 2003 when Iyiola Omisore
pulled a similar feat, by "wining" a senate seat from Osun state
while awaiting trial for the murder of Bola Ige, I was one of the decent
Nigerians who thought that act was so aberrational that it could never happen
again elsewhere in Nigeria . Also, when the Nigerian Supreme Court defied the
constitution by appointing Chibuike Amaechi governor of Rivers State, I raised
hell because it was an unjust ruling. The dire implication of the Supreme
Court's unjust decision in Amaechi Vs Omehia/PDP is now made clearer to
Nigerians as the presidential election tribunal relied partly on it to carry
out its unjust decision last Tuesday. The point to all this is that I am as
clear as day light or am as consistent as Tuesday succeeding Monday when
condemning injustice.
In Abia state, the gubernatorial election tribunal
quashed the election of governor T.A. Orji on the grounds that he failed to
resign, within 30-days to the election, from his position as Chief of Staff to
the former governor, and also on the conclusion that T.A. Orji belongs/belonged
to a secrete society. This conclusion of the tribunal's, from which it made its
ruling, is a perversion of what the Nigerian constitution says on these two matters.
It is true that section 182 (1)(g)(h) states that one may
be disqualified from being a governor if:
>>(g) being a person employed in the public service
of the Federation or of any State, he has not resigned, withdrawn or retired from the employment at
least thirty days to the date of the election; or (h) he is a member of any
secret society<<.
The same constitution, in section 318(1), defined what
constitutes being employed by a public service as follows:
>>"public service of a State' means
the service of the State in any capacity in respect of the Government of the
State and includes service as:
(a) Clerk or other staff of the House of Assembly;
(b) member of staff of the High Court, the Sharia court
of Appeal, the Customary Court of Appeal; or other courts established for a
State by this Constitution or by a Law of a House of Assembly;
(c) member or staff of any commission or authority
established for the State by this Constitution or by a Law of a House of
Assembly;
(d) staff of any local government council;
(e) staff of any statutory corporation established by a
Law of a House of Assembly;
(f) staff of any educational institution established or
financed principally by a government of a State; and
(g) staff of any company or enterprise in which the
government of a State or its agency holds controlling shares or
interest<<
From the above,
it obvious that political appointees of the governor's were not envisioned or
mentioned by the constitution to abide by the 30-day resignation requirement.
Yet a roguish election tribunal chairman construed the constitution nefariously
and undid the supposed wishes of the Abia electorate.
On the second ground for quashing the election, the
constitution (318(1)) defines a secret society as follows:
>>"Secret society" includes any society,
association, group or body of persons (whether registered or not)
(a) that uses secret signs, oaths, rites or symbols and
which is formed to promote a cause, the purpose or part of the purpose of which
is to foster the interest of its members and to aid one another under any
circumstances without due regard to merit, fair play or justice to the
detriment of the legitimate interest of those who are not members;
(b) the membership of which is incompatible with the
function or dignity of any public office under this Constitution and whose
members are sworn to observe oaths of secrecy; or
(c) the activities of which are not known to the public
at large, the names of whose members are kept secret and whose meetings and
other activities are held in secret<<
From the above,
only a court of competent jurisdiction can declare that someone belongs to a
secret society. For that to happen, a trial to that effect must hold, after
which evidence must confirm that what the person belongs to meets every
definition of secret society as enshrined in the constitution. The election
tribunal is not competent to make this declaration or to nullify the election
of a governor based on that without importing the ruling of a court of
qualified jurisdiction in that regard.
On the two
grounds on which T.A.Orji's election was quashed, the tribunal either willfully
or incompetently abused the constitution of the land. Nigerians who abhor
injustice must speak against this irrespective of their feelings about T.A.
Orji and the politics of Abia state. You cannot be a bona fide believer in the
rule of law if you personalize the fight against injustice. You condemn
injustice even when it is visited upon your enemy. Not doing so gives injustice
the license to drive on and no one knows on whose porch it may crash next.
Yes, roguery
reigns in Abia state. We must, in unison, attack it as much as we attack its
national hydra headed counterpart. Just as I was tireless in castigating the
Supreme Court for violating the constitution, when it imposed an unelected
Chibuike Amaechi on Rivers state as governor, I make bold in chastising the
election tribunal of Abia state on this matter too. I ask you join me!
Nebukadineze Adiele
Nebukadineze@aol.com
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 03.03.2008 10:26