Yesterday, the Appeal Court in Enugu threw out the prayer of Chief Andy Uba, ex Special Adviser on domestic affairs to the immediate past president, Olusegun Obasanjo seeking for court pronouncement to be automatically sworn in as Anambra State governor upon the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent governor, Peter Obi on March 10, 2010.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Ngwuta of the Appeal Court, Enugu Division declared that the April 14, 2007 election which purportedly produced Andy Uba as governor was conducted in error by INEC, submitting that by virtue of Section 178(2) of the 1999 Constitution there could not have been an election in 2007 to fill a vacancy that could only exist in 2010.

Saturday Sun sought the reaction of Nigerians to the judgment who hailed the verdict as worthy and an addition to the democratic process. They also called on Uba to put an end to his penchant to bring frivolous applications every now and then that sometimes seem conflicting before the courts and find another means of actualizing his dreams by contesting a proper election if he desires to be Anambra governor.

In one of the major reactions, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State said: “The law has taken its course.  With my personal experience with the judiciary, I have the unshaken belief that the judiciary will always do what is good for the society in the light of the laws of the country. I thank God and commend them for not disappointing Nigerians.”

Anambra must move forward -Ralph Nwosu, ADC guber candidate
Andy Uba is our brother and I will advise him to move forward for the good of Anambra State and our people.

Governorship, not life and death —Moghalu
This is strictly a legal matter, but my attitude about it is our judiciary is being tested and I have always said that for our democracy to grow, we need a very strong, virile and viable judiciary. When accepting the decision of the appeal court as the final, we must also laud the appellant for having exhausted all the remedies available so that he can be fully satisfied with what is on the ground. At the same time we must also salute the judiciary for standing firm to defend its position.

Like I have always said, appointment comes from God, this thing is not a matter of life and death. If the Appeal Court says there is no governor-in-waiting, I will advise Uba to accept it in good faith and as the final word on that matter. But at the same time we must also acknowledge the fact that Uba, like every other Nigerian has a right to seek a judicial protection in any given situation, or circumstance that impedes his interest”.

There should be an end to frivolous suits —Akintola [SAN]
I think it is time we saw an end to all these type of frivolous suits across the country. Until we do that, there won’t be sanity in the system.

You will recall that between 2002- 2005, I had a running battle with Ladoja over Ibarapa chairmanship election. Even after he had appealed the judgment against the tribunal verdict the incumbent chairman continued with frivolous suits to the extent that at the end of that day, we had different judgments on the same issue.

It got to a stage that virtually all the judges in Oyo State sat on the case and they were all returning the same verdict, like this man, Uba keeps going to court.
Now, this Andy Uba matter has gone to the Supreme Court several times and now the Court of Appeal. It seems he wanted the Court of Appeal to sit as an appellate court over the Supreme Court decision. Until we invoke a kind of punitive measures against applicants or people that file frivolous actions, these things wont stop. In Britain, if this happens, you are going to pay not only the fees of your own lawyer, you are going to pay the fees of the counsel on the other side and will be fined heavily. I think we need to do that so as to curb the filing of frivolous cases.

Lawyers now break bounds —Odanye, PDP stalwart
The Supreme Court has ruled that the election that purportedly brought Andy Uba was an exercise in nullity. How can you claim to be governor in waiting? If something is supposed to happen in 2010 and you did in 20007 and the court tells you that it was wrongly done and you are now claiming to the result of an election, which was prematurely done, does it make sense?

Peter Obi did not participate in that election; his first term is coming to an end, is he not entitled to a second term? If he did not participate in that 2007 election, how can it be complete? So, I would have been shocked, if the Court of Appeal had upheld his application.

I think we lawyers should be better behaved. Really, I feel I don’t know what is going on any more. Everything is being turned to a charade. We all know things that are impossible, but I think lawyers now break bounds, believing that nothing is impossible. How else do you explain people going to the Supreme Court, telling the apex court to reverse itself. It is elementary we are thought in law school that the Supreme Court, like any other court can only amend its judgment, based on error of calculations, mathematical errors, those that are inadvertently made. Those are the kind of errors you can correct, or when there are two conflicting decisions on the same matter. The law is not an absurdity. Where in the constitution or in the electoral act do we have provision for a governor-in-waiting.

By Duro Adeseko
It was goose chase - Ben Obi
As far as Andy Uba’s case is concerned, I rely on the judgment of the Supreme Court. It had decided the matter and all steps taken later were mere exercise in futility. The Supreme Court was very clear in its judgment. He is just going round looking for something that is not missing at the courts.

Osita Okechukwu -CNPP Secretary
Andy Uba should have known that the seat is not vacant. The highest court in the land had given its judgment on the issue at hand. He should know that he ‘won’ the election when there was no vacancy. He should know that he couldn’t manipulate the court. He won an unlawful election. The Appeal Court has now given its verdict and the Supreme Court has earlier warned him not to bring such issues to the highest court. If he still wants to rule, he should wait for the next round of election. Unfortunately for him, PDP has presented Chukwuma Soludo for the forth-coming election. He will just have to wait.

He believes in rule of law -Ebenezer Babatope
Andy Uba believes in the rule of law. He will certainly abide by the ruling of the court. The party also believes in the rule of law. I am sure that Uba will join us to ensure that PDP wins the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.

sourse;
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/nov/14/national-14-11-2009-00-002.htm

BUT WHEN WILL ALL THESE PEOPLE KNOW THAT WE ALREADY HAVE A GOVERNOR WHO ANAMBRA PEOPLE WANT (Peter Obi) AND GO AND FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO?