Fresh from the Supreme Court’s round rejection of his expedition to be declared governor of Anambra State, Mr. Emmanuel Nnamdi (Andy) Uba has filed a fresh lawsuit at the Federal Court of Appeal in Enugu seeking an order directing that he was duly “elected” governor by virtue of the gubernatorial election held on April 14th 2007. He is also requesting that the court direct that he take over from Mr. Peter Obi on March 17, 2010, when the tenure of incumbent Governor Peter Obi is due to expire. Also, Uba’s lawyers led by Ajibola Aribisala (SAN) are seeking a motion barring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting a fresh election into the office of governor pending the determination of the suit.
In dismissing Mr. Uba’s petition last month, the Supreme Court chastised his lawyers for trying to bring the judiciary to ridicule.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of Uba’s latest suit, but a source within the Supreme Court told Saharareporters that Uba was encouraged to file the fresh suit by Supreme Court justice, Aloysius Katsina-Alu.
Katsina-Alu, the second most senior justice at the Supreme Court, will be taking over from current Chief Justice, Legbo Kutigi, in December 2009 or earlier. If Uba’s latest lawsuit is dismissed at the Court of Appeal, as most legal analysts expect, he plans to head once more to a Supreme Court with Justice Katsina-Alu at the helm. Justice Katsina-Alu has a reputation in legal circles in Nigeria as one of the most corrupt justices ever to sit on the bench.
Saharareporters has detailed how Justice Katsina-Alu has compromised his office by accepting hefty bribes from Uba’s lawyer, Adoki Bello.
Katsina-Alu strategically excused himself from the seven-justice panel, headed by Justice Kutigi, which handed Uba his latest judicial defeat. “Justice Katsina-Alu’s plan was to leave himself somewhat unencumbered to preside over a new panel that may take up Uba’s case as soon as the current CJ is retired,” said our source. He also revealed that several justices were appalled about Katsina-Alu’s apparent role in encouraging Uba to persist in his efforts to buy a favorable verdict that would catapult him into Government House, Awka, without going through a credible election.
Our source said two of the serving justices have vowed to wage a public war with Katsina-Alu should he try to bring up Uba’s case again.A source told Saharareporters that the case was already taken care by the Supreme Court which declared that Andy Uba's election was a nullity. Our source said that Andy's desperation was to exhume a case that was already decided in a final judgement by way of a motion. A legal analyst in Abuja told Saharareporters that the case is without merit and should not go back to the Supreme Court since it arose from the decision of an election appeal proceeding.
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