Andy Uba is right to go back to court if he believes that the court decision was arrived at fraudulently. Peter obi is right to cry foul at what seems an attempt to resurrect an issue the court has already decided. I am right to criticise Andy Uba for engaging in a course I believe is an abuse of court processes; But the Appeal Court Judges should be allowed to decide “without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.
Andy Uba; who is blackmailing the Appeal Court Judges?
As the battle for the governorship of Anambra State shifts to the appeal Court next week, a strange and dangerous dimension has been introduced to the case brought by Andy Uba for the interpretation of the tenure of Mr Peter Obi, the Governor of Anambra State. Uba wants the court to declare him “a governor-in-waiting”. But some characters have already decided what the court decision will be.
Rather than allow the courts as independent arbiters to give their judgement free from Undue influence, these characters have taken it upon themselves to influence the direction of judgement. Their aim is to fetter the courts discretion.
In a widely circulated missive on the internet, one Mr Ode Murphy declared that the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu has moved the day for judgement on Andy Governor-in-Waiting case from the 5th to the 6th of November.
He continued: The followers of Andy have continued to celebrate as they are very sure of victory. Reliable source revealed that Andy has spent billions of Naira on the case. Determined not to make the mistakes that made him loose his previous cases, he has reached out to everybody, including the Sultan of Sokoto. It is not clear what he gave him, but he gave 10 Million dollars to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to keep mute in spite the dust the judgement will generate. 10 Million Dollars to the president of the Court of Appeal, whose court is handling the case. He gave 3 Million Dollars each to the presiding justices. He gave 2 million Dollars each to other justices that may have a say, one way or the other. One striking deal about the present bribe is that the money was only released to a third party, a prominent Northerner to be given to the judges after the case.
HABA, ANAMBRA FOR SALE, He concluded.
Ode should have been dismissed as unnecessary attention grabber masquerading as news medium but for subsequent events. Apart from the stupid amount of money bandied about, who is the person that gives bribe and broadcasts it?
If Andy Uba had bribed the judges, who would he tell? How would anyone know until the case is over? When Chris, the other Uba brother bought the Anambra election in 2003, did he publish it on CNN?
When one says Andy Uba is going about town bragging of victory, that person only manifests his ignorance of who Andy Uba is; the Andy Uba man hardly talks rarely grants an interview and generally keeps his counsel.
Who among the readers will ever quote any sentence from the man Andy Uba? Ever since his election dispute with Peter Obi, the man have done nothing else but gone to court.
In preparing this piece, I contacted an aide to Andy Uba for comments, he declined. When I pressed that his boss at least might like to repudiate some of these claims, his reply was; “you know Onye Eze never engage in media war”.
Let me be clear; I am not in favour of Andy Uba’s court actions. I believe that Uba is merely wasting his time. It is evident from the ruling of the Justices of the Supreme Court of June 14, 2007, that the election which brought Andy Uba into power was ab initio a nullity. In fact worse worse than a nullity because the Supreme Court ruled INEC cannot conduct an election for an office that is not vacant. This is clear both from the Electoral Act and from the 1999 constitution. Therefore the election is a non-event, meaning that in the eyes of the law it did not happen!
Olanipekun and the other lawyers are merely collecting money from Andy Uba for nothing.
But having run to the court, the courts as the last arbiter should be allowed to give unfettered judgement, they should neither be intimidated nor should they be blackmailed.
Andy Uba is right to go back to court if he believes that the court decision was arrived at fraudulently. Peter obi is right to cry foul at what seems an attempt to resurrect an issue the court has already decided. I am right to criticise Andy Uba for engaging in a course I believe is an abuse of court processes; But the Appeal Court Judges should be allowed to decide “without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”.
A careful analysis of subsequent items flying about online discloses an orchestrated move to intimidate the Appeal Court Judges into giving anything but a dismissal of Andy Uba case.
Another item online howled:
Judges That Will Give Andy Victory: Justice J.S Ngwuta; Justice Kekere Ekun; Justice Jean Omokiri; Justice Audu Aboki; Justice J. Galinje
One Mr Christian Anosike added; ‘Andy Uba So Sure of Judgement’.
He wrote this:
“There was a strange celebration of sorts in Awka today by sympathisers of Andy Uba, PDP’s guber candidate in the controversial 2007 elections, ahead of the appeal court sitting/judgement of Nov 5 in Enugu.
According to a reliable source, Andy is so sure of being declared governor-in-waiting by the appeal court that he has started drawing a list of his cabinet even when the tenure of the incumbent governor has not expired. Andy’s confidence, it is reliably learnt, is anchored on his ‘settlement’ of the judges of the appeal court, one of who is due for retirement next year and who Andy believes will do anything to make life after his retirement cosy and exciting.
It is also reliably gathered that Andy’s women are fine tuning their new songs which they will sing that day, while they have also sewn new uniforms. Although this is not the first time they will be doing this, this time, they are just very sure.
As the days turn to minutes ahead of that day, Anambrarians, nay Nigerians, are eagerly awaiting whether Andy will be favoured by the court and whether it is indeed true that he has bribed them”.
In a comical follow up, one Ifeanyichukwu Ogwe wrote:
“Dear Secondus,
I had reacted to your written submission on Andy Ubah getting judgment on 5th of November, 2009 as impossible until I started getting calls from Anambra state that people were jubilating in the three major cities of Awka, Nnewi and Onitsha even Ekwulobia and Umunze with regards to the November 5th judgment.
If this can happen it means they are very sure of what they were saying, probably something has gone wrong somewhere and money exchanged hands to the detriment of the judiciary.
I was very sure that the judgment date was not given by the Judge but how come people were said to be celebrating in the East and environs about the judgment yet to be given and even too sure that the judgment would come of 5th of this month. Who is deceiving who? Is the Judiciary up to something? Have the people concerned in this case taken bribe or what? Somebody should let me know what is happening please”.
What a stupid statement! The conjured image is one of Andy Uba taken over all the beer parlous in Nnewi, Onitsha and Awka. Then after giving everyone one-one bottle, boasts of victory because ‘all the judges in Nigeria are my friends’. Subsequently all the okada riders in town drive around the major roads honking in celebration of an anticipated victory! What fools!
Someone should call these characters to order. Perhaps, these I posters seems encouraged by the fact that the last time the Andy Uba matter came to court, and following a news item that the Judges have been bribed and are poised to give Andy Uba favourable judgment. On the day the Court was supposed to sit, the court hastily adjourned in unexplained circumstances.
A news website subsequently claimed that the Judges courage failed them under pressure from their expose.
It is okay for a concerned citizen to argue, as did Gabriel Akpata, that Andy Uba Is Toying With the Integrity of the Judiciary ,what is unacceptable is to subtly decide the case through intimidation and blackmail by accusing the Judges of corruption even before the case have been heard.