{"id":45496,"date":"2016-01-10T18:02:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T17:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=45496"},"modified":"2016-01-10T18:02:34","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T17:02:34","slug":"abia-guber-appeal-judgment-and-harvest-of-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/abia-guber-appeal-judgment-and-harvest-of-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"*Abia guber appeal judgment and harvest of controversy*"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu*<\/p>\n

*I thought I heard a voice cry, \u201cSleep no more! Macbeth is murdering
\nsleep.\u201d Innocent sleep. Sleep that soothes away all our worries. Sleep that
\nputs each day to rest. Sleep that relieves the weary laborer and heals hurt
\nminds. Sleep, the main course in life\u2019s feast, and the most
\nnourishing**\u201d*
\n*.** – Macbeth.*<\/p>\n

The timing of the judgment did not even support the illegality
\nallegedly\u00a0 perpetrated
\nby the five- man member panel headed by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, who robbed
\nAbians of the treasured sleep by delivering a judgment that has been
\ntagged\u201d the most controversial in the recent history\u201d. The judgment that
\nnullified the mandate Abians unanimous gave Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu to serve
\nthem as the number one citizen of the state.<\/p>\n

The judgment came on the eve of the new year when Abians were savouring the
\ngoodies that the festivities usher. It came at a period Abians in the
\nDiaspora had cashed in on the opportunity provided by the yuletide to have
\na firsthand assessment of the transformation going on in their state,
\ncourtesy of the seven months old administration of Ikpeazu.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the five- man member panel that nullified Ikpeazu\u2019s mandate at the
\nAppeal Court in Owerri on 31st December, 2015 murdered sleep that soothes
\naway all the worries of Abians. Sleep that has put their decades of neglect
\nto rest. Sleep that has relieved them of their weary labour and hurt.\u00a0 And
\nlike Cawdor and Macbeth, sleep had eluded them.<\/p>\n

Like the proverbial character that stirred the hornet\u2019s nest, it has been
\nbanters, knocks and bashing. It has been barrage of criticisms from the
\nlegal to moral and to what have you.<\/p>\n

Few days after the controversial judgment, the Chief Justice of Nigeria,
\nJustice Mahmud Mohammed, had, while addressing justices of the Court of
\nAppeal in Abuja at the Annual Conference of the Court of Appeal held in
\nAbuja, expressed concerns over conflicting judgments emanating from the
\nCourt of Appeal.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cAs the guardians of the law, we must not only be just but also
\nconvey certainty in our justness\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Peoples Democratic Party largely affected by the decisions of justices
\nof the Court of Appeal in electoral matters had accused the justices of
\ninterpreting the laws to favour the ruling All Progressives Congress. The
\nparty had also accused the justices of the Court of Appeal of giving
\nconflicting judgments in similar cases and refusing to follow the
\nprecedents laid down by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

He told the justices that they were not allowed to continue to shift the
\ngoalposts when the game was on.<\/p>\n

While advising them to adhere to certainty and stop creating confusion,
\nJustice Mohammed said: \u201cAs your lordships will agree, where an aggrieved
\nperson perceives, whether rightly or wrongly, that they will not receive
\njustice, such a situation can indeed bode ill for the community in which he
\nlives and can lead to acrimony and anarchy. \u201cWe must not ignore the
\nnegative perception that is occasioned by conflicting judgments delivered
\nat various divisions of the Court of Appeal. Such judicial contradictions
\nonly result in untold hardships to litigants in their quest for justice.
\nThey further cast your lordships in an unfavourable light and leave the
\njudiciary at the mercy of innuendoes, crass publications and editorials\u201d.<\/p>\n

A highly- respected and celebrated columnist, Amanze Obi, in his column
\n\u201dBroken Tongues\u201d of Thursday , January 7, 2016 entitled\u201d Judiciary
\non trial
\nagain\u201d raised some pertinent questions that call for sober reflection.<\/p>\n

For clarity and comprehension of the piece, permit me to reproduce
\nsubstantial part of the piece:\u201d This latest judgement from the Court of
\nAppeal is in the mould of some of the radical judgements, which our courts
\nhave had to deliver in election matters. It will go down in our political
\nhistory as one of the judgements that have tried and tested the
\nimpartiality and indepen\u00addence of the judiciary in Nigeria. It should be
\nnoted, for instance, that the judgement is a radical departure from the
\nearlier one given by the Abia State Governorship Election Petition
\nTribunal, which upheld Okezie\u2019s elec\u00adtion. Given this earlier verdict, the
\nexpectation was that the worst that could happen would be to call for a
\nrerun in the event of a higher court feeling that the earlier judge\u00adment
\ncould not be upheld.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what came from the Court of Appeal was a bomb\u00adshell. It was not in
\nconformity with the wildest imagi\u00adnation of bookmakers. Our recent
\nexperiences with our courts show that such judgements, whenever they are
\ngiven, are largely political and ultimately spiteful. There are plans
\nbehind them. They are usually directed at persons or institutions, which
\nthe courts feel have de\u00adliberately perverted the principles of equity and
\nfair play. When, for instance, the Supreme Court declared Chibui\u00adke Amaechi
\nas the governor of Rivers State, even when he did not stand for election,
\nthe story behind it was one of spite. The court saw Amaechi as the
\noppressed, in fact, an underdog, who was trampled upon by the PDP and some
\npowers that be who did not want him to become governor. The court\u2019s
\ndisposition was that such a man needed help. And so, it veered off the
\nlegal route in order to procure a favourable judgement for Amaechi. But the
\ncourt was later to be embarrassed by its own indiscre\u00adtion. Today, the
\nverdict of the Supreme Court on Amae\u00adchi remains one of the legal
\naberrations of our time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Abia situation, to all practical intents and pur\u00adposes, cannot be
\nlikened to the Rivers scenario. There are, no doubt, notable political
\ngladiators, who have been battling for political space in the state. But in
\nall of this, neither Okezie nor Otti was in the picture. The two
\ngover\u00adnorship contenders may have been associates of the con\u00adtending power
\nbrokers in the state, but their involvement is too tangential for the
\npolitical judgement that is playing out. And so, the question must still be
\nasked: Why is the Court of Appeal incensed over Okezie? Why is he being
\nmade a subject of spite and disdain? Why has the Court of Appeal acted as
\nif it was on a mission? The majority of the Abia electorate are raising
\nthese questions. They are incensed by the judicial fiat that wants to make
\nnonsense of their verdict. And so, the court may have pleased itself in
\nthis matter, but the people who are supposed to be the ultimate
\nbeneficiaries of the judgement are not satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people cannot also fathom why Abia is being factored into the
\npolitical earthquake that the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC) is
\nallegedly planning to unleash on the polity. The party has moved into Akwa
\nIbom and Rivers States and appears set to topple the ap\u00adple carte. We fully
\nunderstand the politics behind all this. The two South South states gave
\nthe Jonathan candidacy a big boost with the reasonable number of votes they
\nre\u00adturned in last year\u2019s presidential elections. Given the win\u00adner takes
\nall disposition of the present order, somebody somewhere may be feeling
\nthat the two states should be punished for their practical support for
\nJonathan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut how does Abia come into this mix? Abia, we must recall, is one of the
\nSouth East states that supported Jona\u00adthan only in words but not in action.
\nSouth east states, most embarrassingly, could not return substantial
\nnum\u00adber of votes because of the shallow thinking of the po\u00adlitical elite in
\nthe zone. They did not play the politics of numbers. They did not know that
\nthe ultimate bragga\u00addocio is to ensure victory, using numbers as a bait.
\nThis device was masterfully employed by Attahiru Jega\u2019s Independent
\nNational Electoral Commission (INEC) in many northern states, notably Kano,
\nKatsina and Kadu\u00adna where it posted huge figures to boost Buhari\u2019s chances
\nat the polls. This notwithstanding, nobody is complain\u00ading about the padded
\nfigures from the north. The courts are not going there to try their hands
\non any form of radi\u00adcal displacement of the existing order.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if Abia has to be tinkered with for whatever rea\u00adson, the people do
\nnot understand why that should come about through massive
\ndisenfranchisement of a section of the Abia electorate. In fact, the most
\ncontentious as\u00adpect of the entire drama is the cancellation of the results
\nof the three local government areas in Ngwa land where Okezie hails from.
\nThe affected local government areas are those of Osisioma, Obingwa and
\nIsiala Ngwa North. The court cancelled the results of the elections in
\nthese local government areas and did not order for a rerun. This is the
\ncrux of the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who have peeped into the strength of the reg\u00adistered voting
\npopulation in the state say that the afore\u00admentioned local government areas
\nhave about 300,000 registered voters. With the cancellation of the results
\nof the April 2015 governorship elections in the state in these areas, this
\nhuge number of the voting population has been disenfranchised. Our
\nexperience here shows that whereas INEC bothers about the
\ndisenfranchisement of voters, one of the reasons it has declared a number
\nof elections inconclusive, the courts do not care a hoot about who is
\ndisenfranchised or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent governorship elections held in Kogi and Bayelsa states, for
\ninstance, were declared inconclusive by INEC because there was need to
\nensure that regis\u00adtered and eligible voters are not unduly schemed out in
\nthe electoral process. In the case of Bayelsa State, the result of the
\nelection is still pending because INEC is in\u00adsisting on a rerun in Southern
\nIjaw Local Government Area. The argument here is that the number of
\nregistered voters in Southern Ijaw can tilt the result of the election to
\nany direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same thing is largely true of the Abia scenario. Here, three local
\ngovernment areas with a registered vot\u00ading population of over 300,000 are
\ninvolved. If the court complained of substantial non compliance with the
\nElec\u00adtoral Act in the election that held in these areas, the right thing to
\ndo is to order for a repeat of the election in the affected areas. To
\ndeclare a winner without minding the fact that the votes of the three local
\ngovernment areas could alter the equation is the height of arbitrariness.
\nThe action undermines the right of the electorate in the state to choose
\nwho should govern them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unbecoming of our judges to sit in their comfort zones and declare
\nresults of elections, which took so much to conduct. By that act, the
\ncourts are making non\u00adsense of both the electoral process and the
\nelections. The Supreme Court should rise to the occasion and save our
\ncourts from imminent infamy\u201d.<\/p>\n

A legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome
\nhas lent his voice to the issue. Ozekhome, who spoke at a Channels TV
\nBreakfast Programme \u2018Sunrise Daily\u2019, described the judgment as
\n\u2018fundamentally wrong\u2019 and full of errors in Law.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that the Court of Appeal was wrong in nullifying the
\nelection of Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and declaring the
\ncandidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Mr. Alex Otti as the
\nwinner of the election.<\/p>\n

According to him, \u201cthe Court of Appeal erred in Law by granting the Appeal
\nof Mr. Otti who could not adopt his own Written Statement on Oath at the
\nTribunal and also by admitting in Evidence, the Card Reader Report from a
\nwitness who was not the maker of the document. He also wondered how the
\nCourt of Appeal could give credence to the Evidence of the APGA Star
\nWitness, Mr. Ahamdi Nweke, who was only a Collation Centre Agent and could
\nnot have been at the Polling Units where Elections were alleged not to have
\nheld\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ozekhome reasoned that on the facts of the case before the Court of Appeal,
\nit was fundamentally wrong for them to have declared Mr. Alex Otti as the
\nwinner of the elections and ordered his swearing-in. He noted that
\nconsidering the fact that even going by the calculations of the Appeal
\nCourt Justices, the difference between the votes allocated to Mr. Otti and
\nDr. Ikpeazu was 48,000 while the total number of registered voters in the 3
\nLocal Government Areas of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa North where they
\ncancelled elections are over 250,000 and as such, going by the Electoral
\nAct, the very worst the Court of Appeal should have ordered should have
\nbeen a rerun election in those 3 Local Government Areas where they
\ncancelled elections to decide the eventual winner.<\/p>\n

He equally faulted the Court of Appeal for relying only on the Card Reader
\nto determine the issue of over-voting and wondered why they discountenanced
\nthe Manual Accreditation done in those Local Government Areas considering
\nthe fact that the INEC Guidelines allowed for Manual Accreditation where
\nCard Readers fail.<\/p>\n

Ozekhome is optimistic that the Supreme Court will not allow the Appeal
\nCourt Judgment on Abia State Governorship Elections to stand in the
\ninterest of Equity, Justice and Fairness.<\/p>\n

Just like Ozekhome, political watchers are expressing high hopes that the
\nalleged faulty judgment by the five- man member panel would not stand the
\nintense scrutiny of the Supreme Court, especially with the recent Supreme
\nRuling on Zamfara.<\/p>\n

It will be recalled that the Supreme Court on Friday<\/span><\/span> affirmed the election
\nof Malam Abdulazeez Yari of All Progressives Congress (APC) as governor of
\nZamfara. The grouse of the appellants in this issue, basically, is that
\nthere was over-voting and that because of that there was substantial
\nnon-compliance with the Electoral Act.<\/p>\n

Delivering the judgment, the Justice John Okoro-led panel of six justices
\nheld that the petition lacked substance.<\/p>\n

The Court ruled that\u201d to prove over-voting, the law is trite that the
\npetitioner must tender the voters\u2019 register\u201d.<\/p>\n

A public affairs analyst and lawyer, Ugochukwu Amaraizu, argued that \u201cthe
\nPetitioners in Abia Tribunal did not tender same. The Respondents at the
\nlower Tribunal hammered on this issue with respect to the elections in
\nObingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa North. The Tribunal rightly observed it
\nand dismissed the petition\u201d.<\/p>\n

On the ground that the appellant ought to have shown that figures
\nrepresenting over-voting, if removed, would result in victory for the
\npetitioner, Amaraizu maintained that Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN who appeared for
\nthe 3rd Respondent- INEC told the Tribunal that even if the total number of
\ninvalid votes or the number representing over-voting is removed, the 1st
\nRespondent- Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu would still be leading.<\/p>\n

Amaraizu said:\u201dThe question now is which evidence did the Court of Appeal
\nrely on to cancel both the valid and the invalid votes?. If you check item
\nNo.3 of the Order of the Court of Appeal, you will notice that the Court of
\nAppeal cancelled election in Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa North. The
\nvalid votes that were added are the ones from the supplementary election
\nthat took place only in few polling Units in Osisioma and Isialangwa North.
\nBut there was no supplementary election in Obingwa which was cancelled
\nalongside Osisioma and Isialangwa North. This is why the Court of Appeal
\ndeclared Dr Alex Otti winner of the election of April 11 and 25<\/span><\/span>. The Appeal
\nCourt cancelled the election held in the 3 LGs on 11\/4\/2015 thereby
\ndisenfranchising over 300,000 registered voters\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ukegbu, a public affairs analyst, writes from Umuahia, Abia State.<\/p>\n

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By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu* *I thought I heard a voice cry, \u201cSleep no more! Macbeth is murdering sleep.\u201d Innocent sleep. Sleep that soothes away all our worries. 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