A five-person panel of the Supreme Court justices hearing a constitutional case involving Emmanuel Nnamdi (Andy), a former aide to President Olusegun Obasanjo, was today forced to adjourn after Saharareporters exposed its plot to return the controversial politician to office.
Two days ago, Saharareporters had revealed that members of the panel had accepted massive financial inducement and planned to deliver a summary judgment today that would have returned Uba to office as governor of Anambra State.
But in the face of scrutiny, the panel – led by Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu – decided this morning that an expanded panel of seven justices should deliberate on the constitutional issues raised by the case.
The justices consequently agreed to an adjournment of the case till further notice.
Our source at the court reports that Governor Peter Obi’s lawyer, Okey Ikpeazu, brought a preliminary objection to the attention of the court after the lead judge asked if the lawyers had all submitted their briefs. Ikpeazu’s preliminary objection was to the effect that Uba’s case was an abuse of court process, since two panels of the court had earlier pronounced on the binding constitutional matters.
Raising issues of res judicata as well as estopell, Ikpeazu reminded the court that the issue before the court had already been decided upon on January 29 2008 and that the court had ruled that the issue that Obi’s appeal had been filed beyond the statutory period was a “mere irregularity”.
After hearing Ikpeazu’s submission, Justice Katsina-Alu consulted with his colleagues and decided to adjourn to allow for a more competent panel to hear and rule on the case.
Our correspondent noted that Governor Obi’s lawyers had earlier raised questions about the competence of the panel in its last two hearings, but the five-person panel did not consider the arguments.
Our source within the court told our correspondent that the panel’s sudden receptivity to Ikpeazu’s argument followed our investigative reports about Uba’s bribery of the justices – most of whose members have a reputation for bizarre rulings and questionable judicial conduct in the past.
Our source close to Uba told Saharareporters this morning that Uba was irate at our reports and blamed it for the court’s postponment of a deal to return him to office.
Even so, the source added that the adjournment now allows the Supreme Court justices already in Uba’s pocket to embark on a strategy to find a “friendly” seven-justice panel that would deliver on the deal – even if in a majority decision.
Another source familiar with the case said the new strategy might involve sneaking Uba back into Government House towards the end Obi’s tenure. He said this move would not override any new governorship election in Anambra, and enable Uba to realize his longstanding claim that he is “a governor-in-waiting.”
A source at the Supreme Court today told Saharareporters that it is unlikely that the court would constitute a full panel to hear the case until after the justices’ annual vacation which starts in the last week of July 2009.
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