Ikechi Emenike candidacy is a case that will determine the neutrality of the judiciary in the Abia APC politics
On Thursday, September 29, President Muhammadu Buhari charged the judiciary to remain neutral in determination of election related cases as the march for the 2023 general elections draws closer.
The President, who spoke at the commissioning of the Body of Benchers Complex in Abuja, urged the judiciary to ensure transparency and justice delivery for sustainable democracy in the land. He said; “As the 2023 general elections draw near, the significance of the legal profession becomes even more pronounced considering the vital roles you play in the electioneering process, both at the pre-election and post-election stages. I hope you maintain the position of an honest arbiter”
He stressed that a society where justice thrives is one that can be assured of development, adding that for Nigeria to effectively embrace sustainable progress, institutions, such as the legal profession, must remain deeply committed towards promoting good governance.
Buhari spoke the minds of many. It is in fact, not for nothing that the judiciary, institutionalised in the courts, is seen as the last hope of the common man. Of the three arms of the government – the executive, legislature and judiciary, the judiciary is the least partisan. Harvard University political scientists, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, in their book, How Democracies Die, list the judiciary among the institutions that they liken as referees in a soccer game, warning that compromising them, signals the commencement of the death of democracy.
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“In democracies, such institutions are designed to serve as neutral arbiters…If they remain independent, they might expose and punish government abuse. It is a referee’s job, after all, to prevent cheating”, they argued. Thus, the judiciary should not only dispense justice but be seen to have done so. Any attempt to compromise the sector, amounts to invitation of anarchy. The immediate casualty in such situation, is the rule of law. To borrow a cliché, the judiciary, should as Caesar’s wife, be above board.
That is currently the challenge before the sector in the contestation between Uche Ogah, former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development and erstwhile university teacher and publisher, Chief Ikechi Emenike, over the 2023 governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State. The case which has taken several turns at various courts, is yet to be conclusively decided. In it, both the judiciary as neutral arbiter and supremacy of the party, as a principle, are on trial. A brief summary of the issues in contention will situate them properly.
It was a fallout of parallel governorship primaries that produced Emenike and Ogah as rival APC candidates for Abia. For effect, on May 26, APC declared Emenike winner of its governorship primary and its candidate.
But Abia High Court in a suit filed by Chinedum Nwole and two others, declared that Emenike lacked the locus standi to contest the election because the party had suspended him. However, in another ruling, Justice O.A. Chijioke granted Emenike a stay of execution on the restraining order earlier imposed. Emenike asked the High Court to determine if APC could refuse to submit his name to INEC. Another issue he wanted to be decided was if INEC could refuse to publish his name as the APC candidate for the 2023 governorship election.
On June 24, Justice Benson Anya of Abia High Court, Umuahia asked APC to submit Emenike’s name to INEC and for INEC to upload his name on its portal. INEC, the court ruled, could not accept or publish the name of any other candidate other than Emenike.
On July 19, Ogah’s attempt to file an appeal on Owerri against the judgment as an interested party was dismissed. His lawyers filed another appeal in Abuja. Emenike’s legal team objected to the motion on the ground that it was filed out of time, outside the 14 days stipulated for filing of an appeal in pre-election cases. The Court of Appeal upheld the preliminary objection in favour of Emenike. Emenike’s lawyer Lateef Fagbemi, prayed the court to uphold the nomination of his client as product of a primary lawfully conducted by the APC National Working Committee (NWC). In corroboration of the claims by Emenike, the party at national and state levels affirmed that Emenike was its duly nominated candidate and did not recognise the primary that produced Ogah.
Ogah then filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, where his lawyer, Solomon Umoh, said that INEC officials monitored the direct primary that produced him as against the indirect primary from which Emenike emerged. He prayed for an order directing APC to forward Ogah’s name to INEC as its duly nominated candidate for the 2023 Abia governorship election.
On Friday, November 11, Justice Binta Nyako, in a judgement, named Ogah the APC governorship candidate and invalidated the indirect primary that Emenike won. Other orders she made were that APC should forward Ogah’s name to INEC as its duly elected governorship candidate for the 2023 election in Abia State and that INEC, should comply.
Neither the APC NWC nor the Abia state chapter is taking the matter lightly. The legal adviser of the party in Abia State, Barrister V.C. Nwankwo, is emphatic that “in the eye of the law, Ikechi Emenike still remains the APC candidate in Abia State”. His argument is that Justice Binta Nyako’s judgment cannot be enforced or executed until the final pronouncement by the Supreme Court on the subject matter. He also cites the judgment of the Abia State High Court by Justice Benson Anya of June 24, 2022, which affirmed the candidature of Ikechi Emenike.
“The judgment of Abia State High Court was affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Abuja in two separate judgments and also by the Court of Appeal in Owerri”, Nwankwo stressed.
Even among laymen, it is taken that judgment of a Federal High Court cannot override or be superior to that of a Court of Appeal on any matter. Abia APC governorship impasse should not be an exception.
But perhaps more importantly, the leadership of APC in Abia has rejected Ogah as its flag bearer and has reaffirmed its support for Emenike. The party leaders reiterated their stance in a statement signed by the state chairman, Dr Kingsley Ononogbu, state secretary, Hon Chidi Avajah, and publicity secretary, Deacon Obinna Atuonwu. Power, they say, belongs to the people. And in democracy, the people and institutions matter.
Besides, lawyers, referencing decisions of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court on similar cases, insist that it is the duty of the political party to determine its candidate for an election and not the INEC and the Courts. This is where supremacy of the party as an important factor in democracy, counts. It is also a case that will determine the neutrality of the judiciary as the election approaches.
