Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State’s bid to continue in office beyond April  without the conduct of   gubernatorial election in Delta State  suffered a  major setback  when the  Independent National  Electoral Commission (INEC)  told  a Federal High Court sitting  in Asaba  that  Uduaghan’s tenure expires in May  2011.

 INEC’s counsel, Mr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN),   made the submission Monday during the resumed hearing  of the suit filed by Uduaghan,  asking the court to stop INEC  from conducting  a fresh gubernatorial election in the state in April.

Uduaghan had averred that by the provision of section 180 of the 1999 constitution, his tenure which began on January 10, 2011 would  keep him in office till 2015. Other defendants in the matter are, Chief Great Ogboru of Democratic  People’s Party (DPP)  and Chief Ovie-Omo Agege, of  Action  Congress for Nigeria (ACN).

But Ikpeazu told the presiding Judge,   Justice Ibrahim Bubu,   during a heated argument between  him  and Uduaghan’s counsel, Mr. Alix Izioyon (SAN), that  elections will be conducted in Delta Sate  because Uduaghan’s tenure expires in May.

He argued that,  “when Uduaghan was first sworn-in, he proceeded  to exercise the duties  of  the office  of the  governor of Delta State, he signed bills into law, adding that  “our contention  is that all acts of a person whose election has been nullified are valid, when the office is invalid,

He further argued that “our argument is that the actions can not be valid, it must  follow, if actions and time are valid, the time spent in performing the functions  are also valid.”

Countering the submission of INCE, Izioyon   told the court   “once election is nullified, it applies to the two ,  what was nullified was the oath of office , you can not go and assume an office without  the oath of office,  if  an election has been nullified, the two must go.

“The amended constitution cannot apply because, the course of action in this matter is the 2007 election, the applicable law in 2006 electoral act and 1999 constitution has  settled the matter and  that  the law frowns against any retrospectives, adding that section 180(2a)  provides for prospective legislations, which says that from now on, if you assume office and there is a rerun, anybody who wins, that person will take a fresh oath of office.”

He  said law is law, moral is moral and urged the court to be swayed  by his argument and grant the relief   that has been sought in the suit.

Justice  Buba while adjourning the matter  for   ruling to 14th of April,  dismissed an application   filed  by National  Conscience  Party(NCP) ,  All Nigerian People Party ( ANPP) and  People Redemption Party (PRP),   praying the court to be jointed the matter , saying they did not follow due process as giving them a hearing in the matter will amount to an abuse of court process.

Posted by admin on Mar 8 2011. Filed under Delta, INEC Politics, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry