Jurisprudence And The Advancement Of The Judiciary

ANDY UBA AND IBRAHIM BABANGIDA.

Recently, one can say with surety that two gentlemen from Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi and Mr. Andy Uba are the most litigious Nigerians.  Through his endless litigation, Peter Obi is enriching jurisprudence. He has really been able to contribute to the advancement of the nation’s judiciary by using the courts to interpret some questions that were not raised before him. He came back from impeachment through the courts, the tenure of Governors was interpreted through him and many more.

On the other hand, though on the contrary is Andy Uba. He is equally litigious not necessary as a credo of his being but more because he has no other options. He has remained perpetually in court trying to get the courts to take actions or make pronouncements that will lead to the courts’ own destruction and even cause problems in the country. He has been very diligent in prompting the courts to even upturn its own judgments without sufficient reason or rational bases. 

Whenever the man is on the rampage, there is panic in the land because, like Nigerian Croesus, his pocket can afford him to spend billions even in dollars to get what he wants. That our judiciary has not succumbed to his weird demands is a cause for celebration and a statement on its integrity.

Our litigious Andy was thoroughly bashed by an angry Chief Justice of the Country, Justice Idiris Legbo kutigi. Remember that after he had presented one case a million times to the Supreme Court, the CJ not known for sudden outburst of anger was forced to descend on him for trying to bring the judiciary into disrepute. He knew, like every other Nigerian, that Andy knows his legendary unpopularity in the State and that he is not capable of winning election. 

Like an old Oriental sage, he advised him to prepare and test his popularity if he must and not seek to become the Governor through the help of the courts. 

From the foregoing, we thought that would be the end of Andy’s attempt to ruin the judiciary. He is at it again, he wants the courts to declare him the Governor-in-waiting on the reason that he won the 2007 elections and that since Obi’s tenure ends in 2010, that he will wait and take over from him. In effect, he is saying that there should be no elections in Anambra State. 

Andy’s court cases are annoying. Devoid of legality, it was clear that there was no election in Anambra State in 2007. The former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo vowed to settle Andy Uba by making him the Governor of Anambra State and he did simply that.  But Andy, without qualms went about happily parading himself as having “won” that election.

There were many cases in the tribunal challenging his so called victory, but once the Supreme Court declared that the purported election that brought him in ought not to have taken place, all the cases were stopped. Clearly, the tribunal would have nullified that election for the existence of glaring evidence that no election took place in the State.

Beyond whether election took place or not is the judgment of the Supreme Court in Peter Obi Vs INEC. The Court decided, inter alia, that the office of the Governor of Anambar State was not vacant as at 29th of May, 2007. It went further to state that the tenure of Peter Obi as the Governor of Anambra State which was four years would not expire until 17th of March, 2010 for the simple reason that Obi being the first elected as Governor under the 1999 Constitution took Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office on the 17th March, 2006.

It is only a person who is deliberately deluded that will read other meanings into this simple judgment.  If INEC conducted an election for a position that was not vacant, then the election was either clearly void and to no effect or for another position you and I do not know about. The judgment was so clear and lucid that one wonders why Andy has been spending a lot of money trying to create a separate, selfish interpretation for it.

I have taken time to recall all this to properly guide the reader on what is at stake. Most of my colleagues I have discussed the matter with are of the opinion that the case should not bother any person. Everybody agreed that once the court grants Andy his prayers that that will be the destruction of the judiciary. It shall give the people reasons, cogent enough, never to believe in the Judiciary.

Have you imagined what our society will look like once it is devoid of laws? Just like the economy, what propels people to believe in the state is hope. I do certain things hoping that the law will be there to protect me, but once I have no reason to believe in the laws again, that will affect me as a person and the country as an entity.

We may act sometimes without weighing the consequences of what we do. If the nation’s judiciary is destroyed, which Andy Uba’s case has the capacity to do, no foreign investor will come to the country because he will not be sure if the laws will come to his aid if he runs into trouble.  If you read the history of genuine rebellions, you will see that what he is seeking, if granted, is capable of dragging some people into the bush to fight an unjust society.  

Under the present dispensation, the Judiciary has done very well. I am told that Kutigi will retire soon and I hope and pray that the Court of Appeal will not desecrate his name by unjust and baseless judgment. I say this because most Nigerians know Kutigi even without knowing who the President of the Court of Appeal is.  Invariably, if the Court of Appeal does anything funny, it will always be quoted as having happened when Kutigi was the Chief Justice.

In Anambra State, it is clear to everybody that Andy Uba’s camp has already started celebrating even when the Court of Appeal is yet to deliver judgment on the case. One is justifiably apprehensive because the camp is so sure that it will win the case based on what they call “strong assurances.”  .

Today, Nigeria is at crossroads. The hailing of the jailing of Chief Olabode George is not borne out of the punishment meted to him for stealing so much, but out of the relief that the Nigerian judiciary is beginning to demonstrate that there are no sacred cows. What gives effect to the laws of the land is their strict application. 

Andy can, like Dr. Jerry Ugokwe, go to whatever court he wants. He can go on and present for litigation whatever issue he thinks about, including, it he likes, asking a court to declare that Mr. Joseph, the father of James has now become a woman, but the difference is in what the courts actually does when confronted with such inanities. The present case is certainly one of the monumental legal inanities.

Johnson Chukwuemeka, a lawyer wrote from Enugu.