Before The Court Of Appeal Rules On Governor Peter Obi's Terms
For the law abiding citizens of Anambra state, the Justices of the Federal Court of Appeal in Enugu hold the destiny of the state in their sacrosanct hands. Any moment from now, the Appeal Court will rule either in favor or against the prayers of Governor Peter Obi in his quest for the court to favorably interpret section 180 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to section 180(1) of the constitution:
“Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, a Tenure of office
person shall hold the office of Governor of a State until - Governor.
(a) When his successor in office takes the oath of that office; or
(b) he dies whilst holding such office; or
(c) the date when his resignation from office takes effect; or
(d) he otherwise ceases to hold office in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.
(2) Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the Governor shall vacate his office at the expiration of period of four years commencing from the date when -
(a) in the case of a person first elected as Governor under this Constitution, he took the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office………”
Section 180(1) of the constitution does not apply to the governor in this case. So for our purpose, I am going to lay emphasis on section 180 (2)(a) of the constitution which implies that the 4-year term of office of the governor starts from the date which the governor took the Oath of Office of Allegiance and oath of office.
The words of the constitution are clear, simple and lead to no ambiguity in interpretation. However, considering the fact that Anambra state is a special case since the governor was not sworn in on the 29 th May, 2003 with his colleagues and hence did not enjoy the fruit of his electoral success, no thanks to the cabals that hijacked the state for their selfish ends, it seems a little complicated. It is no longer news that the cabals here are no other than the Uba brothers and their co-travelers.
Peter Obi contested the election in 2003 under the platform of APGA and won convincingly against all other contestants. However, as the Election Tribunal finally determined, there was massive rigging in form of re-writing figures and in some cases changing entirely the result of the election in favor of PDP candidate, Dr Chris Ngige. Chief Chris Uba, the notorious king-maker of Anambra politics confessed as much in the presence of their grand political godfather OBJ and even openly confessed to all the people of Anambra state and asked for forgiveness for all the atrocities which he committed against the will of the entire Anambra people.
Dr Chris Ngige was sworn in in May 29, 2003 despite the outcry of the populace against the blatant injustice. During that period and up till now, Anambra state is always in the news most of the times for negative reasons.
However, Peter Obi remained resolute in pursuit of his mandate, while Ngige went ahead to rule the state for 3 years thereby usurping what rightly belonged to Peter Obi. Obi won his case at the Election Tribunal, but Ngige appealed to the Court of Appeal. Finally, it was only on the 15 th day of March, 2006 did the Court of Appeal in Enugu finally dismissed Ngige’s appeal and ruled that Peter Obi was “validly and duly elected Governor of Anambra State, having polled the highest majority of lawful votes cast at April 2003 gubernatorial election”. Peter Obi was finally sworn in on the 17 th day of March, 2006. Gov Obi spent only seven months in office and was unconstitutionally and irresponsibly impeached by the same enemies of the people of Anambra. But I do not intend to go into all that time that was chipped away from his tenure since that portion of his tenure is not the question that is currently before the Appeal Court.
Obi’s case about the interpretation of his tenure suffered a set-back. The Federal High Court Enugu recently ruled that Gov Obi supposed to have asked the election tribunal to declare the expiration of his tenure during the time he filed his election petition before the tribunal; and that he should not seek for redress by piecemeal. His case was thrown out by the Federal High Court. But he remain undaunted and proceeded to the Court of Appeal in search of justice.
However, there is hope that Anambra people will see the light at the end of the tunnel. When Obi took his case to the Federal Court of Appeal, the justices decided to entertain his case. From the time both his lawyers and that of the interested parties including INEC and PDP filed their appeal and completed their submissions, the destiny of our dear state is in the hands of these honorable men.
The justices cannot decide a case of this magnitude without looking at its socio-political and economic consequences. In other words, the survival both political, economic and social welfare of our state is at stake here. This is not just any other political matter, this case is one of its kind because nothing like this has ever been decided in the history of our legal system. This means that there is no precedent for the justices to follow to guide them to a just and equitable determination of this case. Therefore, the justices should be guided not only by the constitution which is the supreme law of the land, but also by their conscience, their morality and their sense of justice.
The court is the last hope of the common man, the last hope of the oppressed and the last hope of the hopeless. The court is not only a court of law but also a court of justice and equity. It is an age long principle of law that the law is not interpreted in a vacuum. The law was made by man for the benefit of the society. The drafters of the constitution anticipated a friction about tenure of elected men and women. That was why they made an express provision for the period from which a tenure of a governor is calculated. Even if section 180 of the constitution is not express about this, the implication of this cannot be far-fetched by the justices. They should seek to find the intent of the drafters and what they were trying to correct while making the law.
The most sensible judgment of the Court of Appeal should be to rule that Gov. Obi’s tenure would end not on the 29 th of May, 2007 but 17 th March, 2010. This will give him his full mandate that was unjustly and brazenly taken away by the people that never wished Anambra state well. Gone are the days when anything goes. Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. The courts should always remain the indispensable pillar of democracy. The courts have shown commendable courage in discharge of their sacred duties. All these while, the court has shown that the masses can trust them to give them justice. The judiciary is now faced with another test.
To rule otherwise in this present case will amount to giving legitimacy to evildoers. To rule otherwise means that almost 3years of Obi’s tenure has been taken away by Ngige and that Obi has no remedy. To rule otherwise will go a long way to embolden the same people that rigged the 2003 and 2007 elections as they are ready to rig again come 2011. It would amount to strengthening the hands of election riggers and telling them that it is ok for them to rig the election and go ahead and hire high priced lawyers that will employ all kinds of delay tactics to make sure that the case of the aggrieved never see the light of the day while the rigger exhaust the aggrieved candidate’s term of office.
Whatever way the court of appeal rules in this matter will be a milestone on the issue of tenure of a governor anywhere in Nigeria. It would even be a precedent in the current case where there was a monumental election rigging of the 21 st April, 2007 presidential election in Nigeria. Currently, the case of Rasheed Ladoja of Oyo state, (though not of a similar fact as that of Peter Obi since the former is trying to determine when his tenure ends taking into consideration that he was unconstitutionally impeached from office and lost almost a year to his deputy, Chief Alao-Akala, who replaced him as a result of the impeachment) is waiting in the wings. The court in the case of Ladoja adjourned indefinitely waiting for the Court of Appeal in Enugu to rule on Obi’s case so that they will be well-guided in disposition of Ladoja‘s case.
Our democratic values would either be strengthened or greatly weakened by how the appeal court rules in this case. A favorable judgment for the people of Anambra state is what every person that has the interest of the state at heart would wish for. Most importantly, the multiplicity of petitions before the Electoral Tribunal against another massive riggings of the April 14 th 2007 governorship election in Anambra state would become moot as a result. It would save the state and in fact the candidates of the April 14 th election the agony and the resources of going through what Peter Obi went through from may 2003 all the way through March 2006. Moreover, the professional riggers would know that rigging no longer pays and that power comes through the ballot box and that power belongs to the masses and not to the privileged few that has access to the corridors of Aso Rock.
Peace and progress would finally take root in the state. Democracy is slowly but steadily taking roots in the country. We have not reached the promised land yet, but like the Israelites, we are no longer in Egypt.
Finally, as we wait for the court to rule on this very important case long before the 29 th May, which is the hand over date, as they promised, the whole country is watching. All Anambra people should continue to pray fervently that God in His infinite mercy should come to our aid as He has done so in the past and save our dear state from the clutches of these hawks who are waiting for the 29 th May, 2007 to swoop on the treasury of the state.
