Anambra guber polls: Uba asks Court to validate his mandate

By Innocent Anaba

ENUGU— Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and governorship candidate of the party in Anambra state, in 2007, Dr Andy Uba has asked the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, to vary its judgment of February 18, 2008, so as to sustain the certificate of return issued to him by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on or about April 20, 2007.

Uba in the fresh application, by  his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, is also seeking for an order, directing that he was duly elected Governor by virtue of the gubernatorial election of April 2007 and  pronounce him the elected Governor of the state, having being declared winner by INEC in 2007.

He also want the appellate court to stop the INEC from conducting a fresh governorship election in Anambra state, pending the determination of the suit.

Olanipekun is contending in the application, that “the orders prayed for as couched in the body of the application directly flow from the judgment of this court delivered in favour of the applicant on February 18, 2008.

They do not derogate from the judgment, rather they are meant to give life and meaning to it. Furthermore, they do not detract from the judgment of the Supreme Court which was/is to last till Peter Obi exhausts his tenure as made clear in that judgment. The orders are also not meant to disrupt or interrupt that tenure of Peter Obi”.

According to him, “the orders have become more compelling in view of the extant nature and position of the certificate of return already issued to the applicant. That certificate is a statutory instrument vesting in the Applicant the rights and privileges of a winner of an election and also a returned candidate.