Anambra Guber Poll: Court Clears Uba, Others

As the political intrigues in Anambra State continue to unfold, A federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital, has affirmed that Senator Andy Uba remains the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the November 2013 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, following the ruling by the court that the Ejike Oguebego-led faction of executive remains the legitimate PDP executive in the state.
The trial judge, Justice H.A Nganjiwa stated this yesterday, while ruling on the interlocutory injunction brought by the Ejike Oguebego-led PDP faction executive in the state.
The Oguebego-led executive had gone to court praying, among other things, that the court should compel the PDP to accept Andy Uba as the legitimate governorship candidate of the party, and himself as the Anambra State chairman of the party against Ken Emekaye-led execo.
The duo have been in a protracted political battle in the state over  who controls the party leadership in the state as well as held parallel party programmes in the state.
Consequently, Justice H.A Nwanjiwa while ruling on the motion, ordered the Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise and deal with the Ejike Oguebego-led PDP faction executive as the authentic party leadership in the state pending the determination of the substantive suit before the court.
The court also ordered all the parties involved in the matter to maintain the status quo as well as comply with the earlier directives of the court in that regard.
The court had earlier granted a similar motion directing the PDP to recognise Ejike Oguebego as the chairman but later withdrew it, and recognised the factional executive members led by Ken Emekaye which conducted the primary elections that brought Mr Tony Nwoye as the party gubernatorial candidate for the Anamba poll in November this year.
The court in its ruling yesterday, however, up turned the decision and upheld its earlier ruling to recognise the Ejike Oguebego-led executive which nominated Andy Uba as the PDP governorship candidate.
The judge also declined to set aside the orders earlier made by his senior colleagues on the matter, adding that he lacks such powers to do so.
‘I lack such powers to set aside the orders made by my superiors and the court, and whoever that is not satisfied with  my position should go to the Appeal Court’, he declared.
Justice Nganjiwa, however, told both the plaintiffs and the defendants that he would no longer continue with the trial based on an alleged petition against him from one of the defense counsels in the matter  to the Chief  Justice of Nigeria (CJN), challenging his credibility and fairness in the matter, adding that he would adjourn the matter and wait for further directive from the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
Reacting to the ruling, counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party, the first respondent in the matter, M.M Kalu, explained that the order has a far-reaching effect on the matter at hand, noting that the outcome of the ruling can mar ort make PDP in Anambra State.
Kalu opined that the court rather than granting the orders sought by the plaintiff, went ahead in his ruling to strengthen the plaintiff,  by asking PDP and INEC to recognise them, adding that the judge refused to hear their motion which borders on jurisdiction and proceeded to hear the interlocutory motion.
He urged the court to continue with the matter so as to deal with the substantive suit, adding that the judge would have discontinued with the ruling when he received the alleged petition.
“We will continue our matter here. The judge would  have stopped the ruling when he received the petition, so we must continue with the matter until there is a further directive from the CJN”, he said.
‘The matter is of national interest. The ruling has seriously affected us because the court has strengthen our opponents”, he stated.
In his response, the counsel to the plaintiff, Charles Onyebukwa stated that the court was right in its ruling, adding that the import of the ruling was that Chief Andy Uba remains the legitimate PDP candidate in Anambra 2013 election as he was the product of the  primary elections conducted by the Ejike Oguebego-led executive in the state.
He disclosed that there was no new development in the court ruling, noting that the court only re-affirmed its earlier decision on the matter.
The case was later adjourned to 17th September, 2013 for mention.