By HUGO ODIOGOR

A preview of the shape of things to come in Delta following the rerun ordered by the Appeal Court in the state.

The political pendulum in Delta State swung dangerously against Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan on  Tuesday when the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, Edo State, upturned his election, thereby leaving unanticipated consequences for the sacked governor.

Although  Uduaghan is not the first governor to suffer such a fate,  his came at a time when he was preparing for  re- election in 2011. But it appears that he may be the first politician to face two elections within a space two months, if he wins the fresh election. This is not good at all, considering the fact that those forces that lined up against him in the fresh election to be conducted by February, the deadline given by the court which ordered the poll with 90 days from Tuesday,  will come in greater strength  in April.

The events of the last few days have thrown up series of legal and political calculations which may further stymie the sacked  governor’s attempt to reclaim his mandate. The first is a move by some legal minds to seek a clarification of the term “fresh election” as used in the judgement of the Court of Appeal as opposed to “re-run”. The Secretary General of Anioma Political Forum, Alex Onwuadiamu,  told Sunday Vanguard that the issue of the term “fresh election” as opposed to a “re-run” is beyond mere semantics as some people are trying to interpret what the Appeal Court judges arrived at.

According to him, “there might be the need for us to seek a judicial interpretation of these terms because a fresh election will mean that  there was no election in the first place, which was the prayer the Appeal Court granted to Chief Great Ogboru, but,  at the same time,  it has thrown up the question of who are those that are qualified to present themselves as candidates for the fresh election, it has also thrown up the question of tenure in the event of a re-election for  Uduaghan. It  further throws up the complications of what the political parties can do under the 2010 Electoral Act in terms of presenting or withdrawing candidates for the election”.

Onwuadiamu went further, “If the Appeal Court had ordered  for a fresh election,  it means a different thing from a re-run as we saw in Ekiti State which was occasioned by observed flaws which gave victory to a wrong candidate in the first election”. The same irregularities were observed in the second election and the judicial declaration became necessary to give victory to the Action Congress candidate Dr. Kayode Fayemi. But if the interpretation of fresh election is followed to a logical conclusion, it may justify the argument of the likes of Barrister Mike Ogeah who insist that a victorious  Uduaghan would be entitled to a fresh mandate since the law did not recognise his occupation of the governor’s seat ab initio.

But some people are of the opinion that in the event of a victory for  Uduaghan,  he would complete the remaining part of his tenure in May 2011. This invariably means that he will face one election in February and another one for a second term in April. A victory for Chief Great Ogboru will foreclose the issue of double elections in Delta State in such close proximity and also the issue of determination of tenure. But for the people of Delta