A non-governmental group called
Anambra Watch has sent a petition to Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Aloma
Miriam Mukthar, accusing Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State of
using a front to offer bribes to Supreme Court justices who will be
determining several appeals arising from the November 16, 2013
governorship election.
The petition, which was signed by
Chukwuka Okoye and Peter Nwafor, alleged that the state governor was
trying to pervert the course of justice. The petitioners pointed fingers
at Alphonsus Uba Igbeke as the agent of the governor in the scheme to
bribe justices. According to them, Mr. Igbeke, popularly known as
Ubanese, had been paying visits to the residences of the various
justices who have been named as members of a panel to hear appeals filed
against Governor Obiano by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC). The appellants are praying
the apex court to rule that INEC’s declaration of Mr. Obiano of the All
Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA) as the duly elected governor of Anambra
State was flawed and should be nullified. Both the governor and Ubanese
are from the same area.
The Supreme Court has set aside Tuesday September 16 to hear the
election appeals. However, the petitioners informed CJ Mukthar that
Governor Obiano has recruited Mr. Igbeke to meet with some of the
Supreme Court justices on the panel and offer them huge sums in foreign
currencies.
The petitioners wrote: “Our investigations show that Chief Igbeke had
visited three of the justices in their respective official residence in
the last one week. Your lordship may wish to call for security reports
from the operatives of Department of State Security Services (DSS) who
monitor daily activities and movements at the homes of the justices.
As your lordship will recall,
Chief Igbeke is not new in the act of perverting the cause of justice.
It was Igbeke who bribed some clerks working in the chambers of Justice
Galadima who leaked the judgment in the appeal involving Senator Margery
Okadigbo and Uba Igbeke. The judgment was posted in the Internet before
its delivery after Chief Igbeke failed in his bid to bribe all the
justices in the panel to give judgment in his favor. The aim was to
blackmail the justices who refused to be compromised. The Federal
Judicial Service Commission while dismissing the staff of the Supreme
Court and Court of Appeal who aided Chief Igbeke in the act of infamy
recommended that Chief Igbeke himself be prosecuted by the
Attorney-General of the Federation for masterminding the leakage of the
judgment. So with this notoriety it beats our imagination why some of
the justices of the highest court in the land would be disposed to
receiving such a character in their official residence or elsewhere to
discuss cases coming up before them.”
The panel of seven justices constituted to hear the appeals against
Mr. Obiano’s election is headed by Justice Mahmud Mohammed, the second
most senior justice after the CJ. Noting that President Goodluck
Jonathan is interested in the victory of Governor Obiano, the
petitioners alleged that Justice Mohammed would go out of his way to
please the president in order to be nominated as the next Chief Justice.
The Supreme Court panel is expected to rule on the following issues:
1. Whether Mr. Obiano truly engaged in acts of multiple
registrations as a voter contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act
which forbids such acts,
2. Whether the alleged multiple registrations if proven are enough to
disqualify Obiano from contesting the Governorship of Anambra State,
3. In the light of several conflicting judgments relied upon, whether
Mr. Obiano or Chike Obidigbo was the authentic governorship candidate
of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the election,
4. Whether the voters register used in the conduct of Anambra State
governorship election, which INEC admitted it revised and updated ‘to
correct errors’ less than three days to the holding of the election, is a
valid voter’s register when the Electoral Act expressly prohibited such
action,
5. Whether the postponement and holding of election in Obosi ward in
Idemili North local government area on a Sunday was not calculated to
disenfranchise over 51,230 voters in that Christian populated area and a
presumed stronghold of All Progressives Congress (APC) and its
candidate, Chris Ngige,
6. Whether the Supplementary election held by INEC in 16 local
government areas of Anambra State on the 30th of November 2013 after it
had declared the entire election as “inconclusive” is valid in law,
7. Whether the failure of entire staff of INEC that conducted the
election to swear to the mandatory oath of neutrality before the High
Court registry was enough to nullify the entire election,
8. Whether the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters
in Anambra including the PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Tony Nwoye, his
parents, siblings and relations did not amount to a substantial
violation of the Electoral Act that should result in the outright
nullification of the election,
9. Whether the respondents’ brief of argument filed out of time by
lawyers to Mr. Obiano and APGA respectively will be countenanced in the
determination of the appeals in the absence of any application by them
to regularize their papers.
10. Whether the Election Petition Tribunal and Court of Appeal had
the jurisdiction to entertain allegations of multiple possession of
voter’s card as a ground for disqualification of a candidate under the
constitution.
The petitioners commended Justice
Aloma Mukthar for her “uncommon work” to “sanitize the judicial
process, combat judicial corruption and enthrone fairness in the
judiciary,” adding that her efforts had yielded fruit with the firing of
“bad eggs in the judiciary from the Federal and State High Courts.”
They regretted that some people in the society were “bent on sabotaging
these noble efforts, thus the pressing need for eternal vigilance on the
part of all stakeholders.”
In its petition, Anambra Watch requested “the immediate
reconstitution of the panel,” urging the CJN to personally head a new
panel.
Justice Mohammed may be elevated
to the position of CJN once the incumbent retires mid-November this
year. A new CJN is appointed by the Nigerian President on the
recommendation of National Judicial Council, but subject to Senate
approval.
The other members of the Supreme
Court panel on the Anambra governorship election are Justices
Muntaka-Coomasie, Bode Rhodes-Vivour, Nwali Ngwuta, Kumai Akaas,
Olukayode Ariwoola and Inyang Okoro.
In May 2014, in a case involving Mr. Igbeke and Senator Margery
Okadigbo, a full text of the judgment written by Justice Suleiman
Galadima of the Supreme Court was leaked and published online at least
24 hours before it was delivered. An investigation by the Federal
Judicial Service Commission discovered that Mr. Igbeke and one Collins
Okechukwu had bribed some of the law clerks in the Supreme Court in
order to obtain an advanced copy of the judgment.
The FJSC fired six court clerks implicated in the deal. It also
recommended the immediate prosecution of Mr. Igbeke, but the Nigerian
Attorney-General has yet to act on the recommendation more than a year
later.
A source close to former Governor Peter Obi said that Governor
Obiano’s use of Ubanese to bribe the justices of the apex court is due
to the strained relationship existing between Obiano and his
predecessor, who was his godfather. Governor Obiano and Mr. Obi are no
longer on speaking terms, said the source, adding that the two men fell
out when the current governor began marginalizing his predecessor in
public events. He added that Governor Obi has asked Obiano to refund a
huge sum of more than six billion naira, which the former governor
claimed he spent to install the latter as the governor of Anambra State.
The source said Mr. Obiano had rebuffed the demand, thereby setting the
stage for the current crisis in APGA where at least five APGA members
in the House of Representatives had defected to the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party at the instance of Mr. Peter Obi.
Before the friction between the two men, Mr. Obi had been using his
connection with the Presidency to swing judgments at the Election
Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in favor of Obiano. “Okwute Ndigbo
[Peter Obi’s praise name] has decided that this time around, he should
leave Chief Obiano to cater for himself since Obiano is poking fingers
in his master’s eye,” said the source close to the former governor.
Mr. Obi is expected to announce his formal defection to PDP at a
grand rally where President Goodluck Jonathan would announce his
declaration to contest the 2015 Presidential election. Governor Obiano
had also reportedly made a promise to President Jonathan that he,
Obiano, would be joining the PDP if the Supreme Court grants him
victory.
The Supreme Court is expected to
deliberate on the issues and deliver judgment on or before September 25,
2014 when the 60 days allowed by the Constitution to determine the
appeals would elapse.
If the appeals succeed, a fresh
governorship election will be held in Anambra State, possibly exclude
Mr. Obiano from participating.
Source
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