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As Nigerian security agencies struggle to effect the
arrest of former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, some civil
society groups yesterday pledged to assist the agencies to effect the
arrest.

The groups, under the auspices of the Transition
Monitoring Group (TMG) condemned the refusal of Mr. Ibori to hand over
himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and
pledged to mobilise their members across Nigeria to provide information
on Mr. Ibori’s whereabouts.

“The fact that James Ibori was declared wanted by
security operatives on the alleged scam does not mean that he has been
found guilty of the offence. Hence, it is shameful that he is refusing
to show up for interrogation, despite his consistent claims that he is
innocent,” the TMG said in a statement signed by its chairman, Mashood
Erubami, and secretary, Auwal Rafsanjani.

“Definitely, he must have some skeletons in his
cupboard. TMG and Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria are therefore,
poised to use their networks to join hands with EFCC and security
operatives to intensify their search for his arrest and prosecution.”

Meanwhile, the counsel to the Delta State Elders,
Leaders & Stakeholders Forum (DSELSF), Kayode Ajulo, and the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have called on security agencies to
leave no stone unturned in their drive to arrest the fugitive
politician. Mr. Ajulo specifically blamed the police for the fiasco at
Oghara last week.

The TMG also condemned the actions of the police while trying to arrest Mr. Ibori.

“We detest the uncoordinated gestapo style of the
police operatives in the arrest saga, deploying a detachment of
policemen, including the Assistant Inspector General of Police and the
Commissioner with tens of other policemen to arrest a single suspect.
One would have expected that plain security operatives would have been
on ground to carryout surveillance on the area and the suspect before
the arrival of the police detachment,” the group said.

Police to blame

While condemning the actions of militant youths of
Ogara, Mr. Ibori’s hometown, who prevented his arrest by men of the
Nigeria Police Force, the TMG asked the Federal Government to commence
steps to freeze the former governor’s account.

“As a matter of urgency, Government should consider
seeking courts injunction in freezing all his bank accounts and
confiscate all his alleged illegally acquired assets to cripple him
financially,” the group stated. “When arrested, James Ibori should be
charged for declaring war against the state in addition to the crimes
he is being sought for. It is only the arrest and prosecution of James
Ibori that can make Nigeria to retain its respect in the committee of
nations.”

According to Mr. Ajulo, the Deputy Inspector General
of Police that led the team that had visited Mr. Ibori’s home should be
blamed and questioned for having not carried out the exercise
professionally.

“The DIG must be blamed if Ibori truly disappeared.
Once a court signed a warrant of arrest, it is obligatory for everybody
to ensure its execution. The DIG acted unprofessionally. Why did the
police first ordered the withdrawal of police guiding Ibori? What
stopped them from just asking the same police to come with their
charge?” Mr. Ajulo said.

The APGA, speaking in Lagos, advised the EFCC not to
relent in its efforts to bring Mr. Ibori to book. Nkem Lemchi, the
secretary of the state chapter of the APGA, alleged that Mr. Ibori had
committed a crime against the nation and its people and needed to come
out to answer for it.

“The issue is that this man has committed a crime
against the nation and its people. He should at least come out to
answer for it,” he said. “Ibori should subject himself, instead of
creating barricade that will not solve the problem. If he has nothing
to hide as an individual, he should subject himself to any arrest.
After all, no man is above the law.” he said.

Leader in hiding

Mr. Ibori, one of the 15 national elders of the
ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was declared wanted by the EFCC
over his refusal to appear before the commission. He was summoned to
respond to several allegations, based on ongoing investigations by the
EFCC, including his use of Delta State’s shares in Oceanic Bank to pay
for a personal loan of 44 billion naira he collected from
Intercontinental Bank while he was governor.

The former governor, who has twice been convicted of theft and
possession of stolen materials in England in the early 1990’s, is also
wanted for money laundering by British authorities. His arrest by men
of the Nigerian Police last week Tuesday was repelled by armed youths
in his hometown of Ogara, Delta State. He is still believed to be
hiding there, although some media reports claim he has escaped to Dubai.

The Court of Appeal
sitting at Enugu, on Monday, adjourned ruling in an application filed
by Joy Emordi seeking a review of its March 25 judgment ordering her
removal as the senator representing Anambra North senatorial district
at the Senate.

The judgment
sacking her from the Senate and replacing her with the All Nigeria
Peoples Party candidate, Alphonsus Igbeke, was, however, yet to be
complied with by the Senate, as Mrs. Emordi was, last week, permitted
to return to her seat at the Senate by the leadership.

The court had, in
an unanimous judgment delivered by Olakayode Ariwola, declared that
Mrs. Emordi was not the rightful winner of the election held on April
29, 2007 and affirmed Mr. Igbeke as the winner. It also directed the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately
withdraw the certificate of return from her and hand it over to the
winner.

Mrs. Emordi, in her
application, sought for a review of the judgment at the Appeal Court,
claiming it ran counter to an earlier judgment on the same election
delivered by the same court in a suit involving her and Jessie Balonwu
of Labour Party on Febuary 10.

Mrs. Emordi’s
counsel, Festus Okoye, also filed another motion asking for the matter
to be referred to the Supreme Court for the purposes of hearing and
direction, saying that it was purely a constitutional issue. Mr. Okoye
argued that whenever a constitutional issue was raised, it ought to be
mandatory for the Court of Appeal to refer such matters to the Supreme
Court for resolution.

The issue to be
decided at the Supreme Court is whether the Court of Appeal had powers
to review or set aside its previous judgment if same were in conflict.

‘Section 295 (3)
makes it mandatory for this court to refer the issues to the Supreme
Court, if any of the parties so request,” he said, saying the issues
revolved around the powers of the Appeal Court rules under section 246
(3) of the Constitution.

However, the
counsel to Mr. Igbeke, M.A. Fagbemi, opposed the motion on the grounds
that the application did not raise any constitutional issues for
interpretation of the Supreme Court. The court subsequently adjourned
the matter after submissions by counsel and said it would communicate
dates for its ruling to the appellants at a later day.

Igbeke out in the cold

Last Tuesday, April
20th, the Clerk of the Senate, Ben Efeturu, prevented Mr. Igbeke, who
was to be sworn into the Senate in replacement of Mrs. Emordi that day,
from gaining entry into the Senate Chamber.

Mr. Igbeke
subsequently addressed a press conference during which he displayed a
certificate of return issued to him by INEC. He faulted the refusal of
the Senate leadership to allow him entrance into the chamber as
initially agreed.

The Senate
spokesman, Ayogu Eze, however, said the denial was on the grounds that
Mrs. Emordi was already seated in the Chamber and the Senate had
received a notice of a court process instituted at the Court of Appeal
by her.

Access to Justice, a Nigerian civil society group, also yesterday condemned the decision of the Senate.

“The decision of
the leadership of the Senate to continue allowing Emordi sit as Senator
of Anambra North Senatorial district is unfortunate and has no rational
legal basis or justification,” the group said. “We fully condemn the
decisions of the Senate leadership to prevent the declared winner of
the Anambra North Senatorial elections from being sworn-in and
undertaking representation of the district.

“The Senate’s decision is further proof that while the government
continues to orchestrate the rhetoric of the rule of law, the rule of
law will always be expendable and subordinated to the primacy of
personal and party interest. The Senate’s decision only serves to place
the nation’s rule of law rhetoric into deeper scorn and disrepute.”

Members of the
House of Representatives who want to use the acting president, Goodluck
Jonathan, to create instability in the Assembly should desist from
doing so in the interest of the nation, member representing
Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency in Kano, Faruk Lawan has said.

Mr. Lawan, who
spoke yesterday in Kano, said those who claimed they are plotting the
removal of Mr. Bankole on behalf of Mr. Jonathan would not succeed. He
said such persons will only create a crisis that is capable of
affecting the political stability of the country.

“Those who want to
use his name to create instability in the National Assembly should be
mindful that whatever crises that would emanate from the legislature
would have a negative effect on the stability of the polity and also on
the stability of Nigeria,” he said.

“But then, those
who are plotting this or those who are claiming to be doing this on
behalf of the acting president are not fair to the acting president. I
think what the acting president need now is the complete support of
every member of the National Assembly because the country is passing
through trying times.”

In need of stability

Mr. Lawan also
said the impeachment plot would not succeed at this time, especially
when the country is planning general elections.

“I know that
anybody who thinks about removing the Speaker overnight should think
twice, because some of us have been involved in the crises in the
legislature in the last 11 years and when we speak about this issue, we
know what we are talking about,” he said.

“Removing a
presiding officer within a twinkle of an eye can be dirty, can be messy
and it can be completely destructive and so the legislature does not
require that at this moment of our national life.” The chairman of the
House Committee on Education added that, as far he was concerned, the
impeachment plot was just a rumour.

“Personally, I
didn’t find such speculation valid,” he said. “I consider the rumour as
mere speculations that have no basis because as a member of the House
of Representatives, I am not aware of any action that has been taken by
the Speaker that would warrant anybody to impeach him.

“I also believe that what the House needs now is stability because
there are constitutional amendments before us. The Senate has already
completed that exercise and it is up to the House to complete the
process so that we can amend the constitution so that we can have
credible elections in 2011.”

The federal
government yesterday took steps to address the poor quality of
graduates that are churned out from our nation’s universities and has
directed the immediate commencement of the review of programmes of
tertiary institutions in the country.

The minister of
education, Ruqayyatu Rufa’I, gave this directive yesterday while
declaring open a Roundtable on the Review of Teacher Education
Programmes of Tertiary Institutions in line with the new Senior
Secondary School Education Curriculum organised by the Nigerian
Educational Research and Development council (NERDC) and during a
familiarisation visit to the NUC in Abuja.

Speaking while
declaring open the NERDC roundtable, the minister called on all the
relevant regulatory agencies of the tertiary education sector and
indeed all universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, to
immediately commence the process of the review of tertiary education
programmes to respond to local needs and at the same time meet the
expectations of global best practices.

This, according to
her, would constitute one of the quick wins programmes her
administration would embark upon in line with the ideals of human
capital development needs of our nation and attainment of Vision 2020
for Nigeria to become of the 20 top economies in the world. She said,
“If teacher education programmes in tertiary institutions are not
restructured in line with the demands of the new senior secondary
school education curricula, SSEC, then it will be difficult to produce
teachers with the required skill and competencies to cope with the
challenges of the SSEC.”

NERDC Executive
Secretary, Godswill Obioma, said the programme-specific context and
extant Teacher Education Programme in Universities, Polytechnics and
Colleges of Education, geared toward the production of pre-service
teachers for the Senior Secondary Education level, could no longer meet
the challenges and demands of the new SSE curriculum and needed to be
overhauled.

Mr. Obioma revealed
that following the approval for implementation of the SSEC by the
National Council on Education (NCE) at its 54th meeting early this
year, the Council has concluded arrangements for the implementation of
the curriculum beginning September 2011 from SS1.

Mrs. Rufa’I, who
was also briefed on the activities of the NUC by the Executive
Secretary of the commission, Julius Okojie, while expressing disgust at
the deterioration in the quality of education in the country,
especially university education, under the watch of NUC, stated that it
was a sad scenario that “Nigerians are losing confidence in the system”.

Professor Okojie
said, “I have gone through your document, I know quality is your
concern but then how do we restore the lost glory of universities? Of
course we can’t achieve that without looking at the basic education
level. But then since the mandate of the NUC is within the
universities, how do we begin to restore the lost glory; because people
are losing confidence in the system.”

“Really, the quality of the product that we are producing is very
low; even though we carry out accreditation exercise, monitoring of
programmes, but when you examine a product of any of our universities,
in comparison with the product of many years back, you will see that
there are gaps,” she said.

Convinced that Space Science is
critical in the development of any nation, Nigeria has completed work
in the building of two more earth observation satellites, NigeriaSat 2
and Nigeria Sat X, said Seidu Mohammed, the Director General of
National Space Research and Development Agency, NASRDA.

Mr. Mohammed, who stated that the
satellites will be due for launch on October 2010, adding that
specifically, the Nigeria Sat X was designed and built by 27 Nigerian
Engineers.

“Satellite projects, like building
projects, are in phases. We have finished most of the phases. The
spacecraft are now ready. The Nigerian engineers were there to design
and implement Sat X and they have done that and are back home.

“The next stage is to move the
satellite to the site for launch. It takes a lot of time, the launching
company has to look through its programme, get itself ready and by
October, the satellite will be launched,” he said.

He further stated when the two
satellites are eventually launched, they will impact positively on
agriculture, defence, and almost all other sectors of the Nigerian
economy.

“The fact that Nigerian Engineers
designed and built Sat X brings confidence into us that it is possible
here. We are going to provide data for efficient agriculture all over
Nigeria, and the launch of Sat 2 with 2.5m resolution enables all
cities to go ahead with cadastral plan to have information to increase
their revenue, as Lagos State is doing now, and provide enough
information about cultural development in terms of soil
characterisation, water resources development, road corridor selection,
and so on,” Mr. Mohammed said.

He also noted that Nigeria’s foray into
the space science and technology world has enabled the development of a
critical mass of space engineers, revealing that 15 engineers were
trained for NigeriaSat, which will expire by December 2010. 54 were
trained for NIGCOMSAT-1, while 27 were trained for Sat 2 and Sat X,
with an additional 25 Scientists trained in geospatial application.

He added that it was only right for
Nigeria to build its own satellite, considering the huge capital
outflow to source satellite data. He said that today, space
technologies have become integrated into everyday life, so deeply that
modern and traditional societies cannot function without them.

“Survey conducted by NASRDA in 2004
showed that capital out-flow paid by African countries for their
international telephone traffic is about $445 million per year, hence
making tariff on communications the highest in Africa than in any other
continent. Nigeria alone pays as much as $200 million per year to lease
satellite transponders,” he said.

The Director General insisted that the space technology will help in addressing some environmental concerns in Nigeria.

“As a result of recent trends of
earthquake in Haiti, Chile, Japan, and China and recent trends in
crustal deformation in Nigeria, as evident by tremors in the country
and continuous monitoring of Ife-Wara-Zungeru faults in Nigeria, the
International Astronomy Agency, IAA, has approved the first expert
study for Africa at the request of NASRDA,” he said.

“By this request, IAA is expected to put experts together all over
the world to study the equatorial plane for the benefit of the
countries within the equatorial region.”

All research institutes under the Ministry of Science
and Technology are to undergo accreditation, the minister, Mohammed
Abubakar, said yesterday when he made a familiarisation visit to the
National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) in Abuja.

The minister said that the accreditation had become
necessary to ensure that each institute is capable of delivering its
mandate.

“By doing so we are trying to determine the extent to
which our capacity is tailored towards our ability to deliver our
mandate,” Mr. Abubakar said. “All research institutes under the
ministry will undergo the rigours of this accreditation exercise.”

Internal exercise

Mr. Abubakar also stated that the accreditation will
be an internal exercise and that efforts will be made to improve any
institute that does not meet up to a reasonable standard of
performance, especially in terms of equipment.

“Each research institute has got its own mandate and
the Federal ministry of science and technology has its supervisory
function. One of those functions is to ensure that the different
institutes are equipped or are poised to deliver their own mandate,”
said Mr. Abubakar. “Where we find or discover any shortfall or any
deficiency, the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology will try to
repair such deficiency. We will put the concept on ground so that when
we leave, any other person that comes will continue with that.”

Practical results

The minister said Nigerians have had enough of
scientific theories and that the time has come for the man of the
street to benefit from research results.

“How are we using our science to improve the lot of Nigerians?” Mr. Abubakar asked.

He said that practical applications of research are
the criteria by which the ministry will record the agency’s success:
“Space is at the cutting edge of technology. The bottom line is for you
to tell us what you have been giving Nigerians so far. I want Nigerians
to feel the impact of NARSDA.”

Seidu Mohammed, director general of NASRDA, explained that the
impact of space science and technology is trickling down and that very
soon every Nigerian will benefit from the agency’s research results.

The probe panel constituted by the
Lagos House of Assembly to investigate allegations of financial
misappropriation levelled against the state’s executive government had
its first sitting today, but it however ignored the request by the
petitioning group, The True Face of Lagos, for the sitting to be open
to the public and barred media coverage.

Something gives

Also, Tunji Olowolafe, the Director of
Deux Projects Limited, a major contractor for the Lagos State
government, was arrested last Friday by the Economic and Financial
Crime Commission (EFCC) in connection with a petition submitted to the
anti-graft agency by the same group.

The arrest was made barely 72 hours
after the group followed the petition with a protest at the EFCC’s head
office in Abuja where the group insinuated that the agency is afraid of
investigating the allegations.

Within one week, these three events
show a drastic change in tone and form, following the much reported
attempt to investigate the activities of the Babatunde Fashola-led
Lagos State executive government.

Consequently, the probe issue, touted
as “political pressure” designed to compel the governor to give in to
some pecuniary demands by his party chieftains, has now assumed a legal
dimension and this unable to be hidden from public view until resolved.

Different consequences

The plan to probe the executive
government was initially frowned at by a pro-Fashola group, Lovers of
Raji Fashola Forum (LORAF). The group recommended that a neutral panel
be set up to handle the investigation because the lawmakers were also
indicted in the same allegations made by the petitioning group.

The petitioner, thereafter, turned
around to withdraw the allegations made against the lawmakers – a move
that some lawmakers, notably Babatunde Ogala (Ikeja constituency),
found very disturbing.

However, as explained by Jiti Ogunye, a
Lagos based human rights lawyer, there ought not to be any angst about
the powers of the legislative to exercise oversight function over the
executive government’s activities, if due process is followed.

“Under the separation of powers, (each
of) the three arms of the government is empowered to exercise control
over one another,” he said in a telephone interview with NEXT.

Mr. Ogunye also did not see how the
wading of the EFCC into the investigation can interfere with the
legislature’s because the two actions have different consequences.

“While the EFCC’s investigation can
lead to criminal prosecution, that of the Assembly can only lead to
removal from office of whoever is guilty as alleged,” he said.

Caught in between storms

However, contrary the promise made by
the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, that the
investigation would be conducted in public view, the panel, as it did
today, will actually sit behind closed doors. It is expected to submit
its findings to the House within two weeks.

Both the petitioning group and the
pro-Fashola group have different opinions of this ‘secrecy’. While
LORAF believes the two weeks given the committee are too small for a
thorough investigation and therefore, smack of a plan to impeach Mr.
Fashola, the petitioner believes the secrecy will provide an escape
route for the governor.

“We are not shielding Fashola from
accountability,” said Olugbenro Akanni, a cleric and leader of LORAF,
in an interview with NEXT. “But we want a neutral body to conduct the
investigation in public view. I don’t believe in the Kangaroo Assembly
because they are polluted already.”

The petitioner, which has been invited
by the panel to appear before it today, seems also to have lost the
trust it once reposed in the ability of the lawmakers to conduct a
thorough investigation. Speaking with NEXT, Adebayo Olushina, the
group’s leader, accused the chairman of the probe panel, Ajibayo
Adeyeye, of sabotage.

“We heard about how he (Mr. Adeyeye)
went to meet with the governor (Mr. Fashola) in the US last week. This
has already reduced the credibility of whatever they are doing,” Mr.
Olushina said, recalling how a fresh tribunal was ordered to sit over
the Osun State 2007 gubernatorial election case because a rapport was
established between the tribunal judge and some lawyers involved in the
case.

Mr. Olushina, nevertheless, confirmed
to NEXT that its group will appear before the panel today to defend the
allegations and also ask the panel to allow for media coverage of its
proceedings.

However, though Mr. Ikuforiji asked the
panel to ensure it invites every party affected, Mr. Akanni said his
group, though it will love to appear before the panel, has not been
invited. “I want to be there also but I cannot go where I have not been
invited,” he said.

Budget review

It has also been argued by some members
of the legislative house that the investigation would not have been
ordered if the lawmakers had done their duties diligently in the first
place.

Since 2008, the House has not conducted
any budget review and Omowumi Olatunji-Edet (Oshodi-Isolo) argued
during one of the plenary sessions on the allegations that “we cannot
throw one thing under the carpet and take up urgent matters. The budget
review would have revealed the allegations, if they are true. Even
though we have been pre-empted, let us allow the presentation to be
laid (before the House).”

Efforts to compel the budget review committee to present its report before the House have always gone in vain – even until now.

Last Wednesday, the counsel to the House of Assembly, Festus Keyamo,
wrote to inform the lawmakers of an appeal filed by Richard Akinola, a
human rights activist who filed an earlier suit that led to the
dissolution of the first probe panel constituted by the House,
challenging its power to probe the executive government.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on
Monday disclosed that it intercepted a bag containing 3.2kg cocaine
concealed in a factory mode.

Disclosing the name of the suspect who imported the
drug into the country as Onwuzurigbo Chibuike Gerald, 27, the agency
added that it arrested six other drug peddlers that attempted to
smuggle narcotics at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA),
Lagos.

According to the agency, Mr. Gerald was apprehended
on his way from Brazil in an Emirate flight on April 4, and a total of
9.39kg narcotics were seized comprising 7.46kg of cocaine, 920g of
heroin and 1.01kg of methamphetamine.

“Onwuzurigbo Chijioke Gerald who claimed to have
travelled to Brazil to buy clothes confessed to the crime,” said
Mitchell Ofoyeju, spokesperson for the agency. “He said that a man he
met in Brazil asked him to bring a bag to Nigeria for a fee of
N500,000.” Hamza Umar, MMIA commander for the agency gave the names of
the other six traffickers as Okeke Isaac Nnamdi, 33, who ingested 90
wraps of cocaine weighing 1.17kg; Chukwuemenam Cornelius Obiefuna, 45,
ingested 60 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.01kg; and Okpara Jude
Iheanacho, 41, swallowed 61 wraps of cocaine weighing 1kg.

Others include Onyeukwu Anele Ndubisi, 40, who
ingested 78 pieces of heroin weighing 920g; Clement John Anderson, 34,
swallowed 67 pieces of cocaine weighing 1.15kg; and Adenuga Francis
Kehinde, 27, took in 90 wraps of cocaine weighing 940g.

The agency’s spokesperson disclosed that the
27-year-old Francis Kehinde, who lives in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, was
recruited into drug smuggling through online chatting, adding that he
was apprehended on April 12 during screening of passengers on Arik Air
flight to London.

“He was to be paid 2,000 pounds with a promise of scholarship to further his education,” said Mr. Ofoyeju.

How they were nabbed

Explaining how the suspects were nabbed, Mr. Ofoyeju
disclosed that Okeke Isaac Nnamdi, a worker in Spain, was arrested on
April 3, at about 8.30pm while trying to board an Iberia flight to
Madrid.

The suspect in a statement said “I met a man in Spain
to lend me some money for my upkeep but he rather asked me to smuggle
drugs for 5,000 Euros. He gave my phone number to a man in Lagos that
took me to a hotel at Isolo where I ingested 90 wraps of cocaine.”
Chukwuemenam Cornelius Obiefuna, who ingested 60 pieces of drugs on his
way to Osaka, Japan, was arrested on April 10, during screening of
passengers on Qatar airline flight to Doha from where he is to proceed
to his destination.

After a field test of the substance by the
anti-narcotics agency on the suspect, the drug was found to be
methamphetamine with a weight of 1.01kg.

According to the suspect, his contacts deceived him
into the act, as they refused to let him know that the substance he was
to deliver was hard drugs.

“They said that it was ice used in the manufacture of
diamonds. My number was given to a lady in Lagos who booked
accommodation for me and gave me the drugs from her bag. She bought my
ticket and gave me $1,500 as part payment. The total money they would
have paid me was $4,000,” he said.

The agency further disclosed that the other two
suspects were nabbed on the same Iberia flight from Brazil at the Lagos
airport with different hard substances tested to be cocaine and heroin,
adding that all suspects will be prosecuted by the court.

The installation of the airfield
lighting system of the Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, has been completed,
the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said.

The FAAN Manager at the airport,
Orjiakor Mgbemene, who announced this via a statement in Ikeja on
Sunday, said that the lighting system was ready for inauguration.

He said that the contractor had
concluded the installation of the approach lights and the edge lights,
while their trial run was ongoing.

He added that the equipment would enhance night flight operations at the airport.

Mgbemene said that the Minister of Aviation would inaugurate the project after the completion of the lighting system’s test run.

He said that the management would soon commence work on the
expansion of the terminal, as well as the arrival and departure halls
of the airport, to accommodate more passengers.

On the afternoon of
17 April, the senate president’s compound in Otukpo – a town in Benue
state – was agog with festivities as visitors gathered to witness the
wedding of Patience, the senate president’s daughter.

When the bride was
to be handed over to the groom, Joy Emordi, a ‘deposed’ colleague of
the bride’s father, was standing between her and the groom.

Glowing with
smiles, Mrs. Emordi took her hand, as the go-between, and handed her
over to the groom’s family. The wedding was over and a deal sealed.

The following week,
Mrs. Emordi returned to the Senate, armed with nothing but the goodwill
of the senate president, David Mark, and a court process seeking an
interpretation of an appeal court ruling that made her leave the senate
hurriedly, three weeks earlier.

Her return
coincided with the date the clerk of the Senate, Ben Efeture, had
slated for the swearing in of Alphonsus Ubanese Igbeke, the man whom
the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu had declared the rightful winner
of the Senate seat for Anambra North. According to the court, Mrs.
Emordi had been representing “in error since 2007.”

Incidentally, her
return date also coincided with the week the Senate disbursed N45
million to each senator as second quarter constituency allowance. Mr.
Igbeke was subsequently denied his seat in the Senate.

Fighting on

Although
disappointed and embarrassed by the action of the Senate leadership,
Mr. Igbeke said he will fight on till he is accepted in the Senate.

“I don’t mind
taking any authority to court to get my mandate back,” Mr. Igbeke told
NEXT. “It is not about me, it is about the constitution which must be
followed at all times.”

Charles Musa, a
Lagos lawyer said the Court of Appeal which gave the ruling can compel
the Senate to obey its ruling. Otherwise, “the senate leadership can be
held for contempt of court orders if the hesitate to swear him in.”

Rotimi Akeredolu,
the president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) also said that
although the court has the power to enforce compliance with the ruling,
the Senate president should not wait for that option to be taken.

“I don’t think it’s
the way to follow, although the court can,” he said. “The rightful
person can go back to the court to compel him, but he (Mark) should not
wait for that.”

The Senate
leadership is however, resolute it its decision to back Mrs. Emordi’s
controversial return, with its leaders saying they will not accept Mr.
Igbeke until the suit Mrs. Emordi filed in the same court for
interpretation and review of the ruling is dispensed.

“On the issue of
Emordi, we have a procedure in the Senate (that) when a matter is
served in court – it is even in our Rule Book – we will not deal with a
matter in such a way that it can pre-empt, affect the outcome.” Ayogu
Eze, the spokes man of the Senate, said. “The Appeal sitting in Enugu
issued two judgements: one of them, the first one, returned Joy (Mrs
Emordi) as dully and validly elected; the same court in another breath
after several months issued another judgement returning one Igbeke as
validly elected. And being a law abiding citizen Joy has gone to court
to seek interpretation, which judgement will take precedent over the
other, which judgment will subsist.”

In the past week,
the Senate’s position on Mr. Igbeke has stirred as much controversy on
the correctness of the upper chamber’s position, as it has generated
concerns about Nigeria’s respect for the rule of law routinely
canvassed by the current administration.

“If we say we obey
the rule of law, we expect the Senate to obey the rule of law, and
swear in the rightful person, simple,” Mr. Akeredolu said.

Igbeke’s long road to senate

Interestingly, Mr. Igbeke himself is not strange to cases of disputed elections.

At the dawn of
democracy in 1999, Mr. Igbeke, an accounting graduate of the University
of Nigeria, launched his first attempt at the National Assembly.

He said he had
wished to join the Senate in 1998, but was persuaded by the People’s
Democratic Party to concede his aspiration, based on “age factor”, to
the late former Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo.

In its place, the
party offered him a ticket to represent his Anambra East/West federal
constituency at the House of Representatives, he claimed.

His elections to
the seat was disputed by Emmanuel Anosike where Mr. Igbeke won at the
Election tribunal and the verdict was later overturned at the Appeal
Court in favour of Mr. Anosike.

In 2003, he was
again nominated by the PDP to become its flag bearer for the House of
Representatives and had his name substituted with Ralp Okeke, a current
member of the House. After a prolonged court case, he was declared
winner after two years in 2005.

“I have always been
the victim of stolen electoral mandate because of my refusal to be tied
to a godfather,” he told us recently.

About the same
time, Mr. Anosike, now having reached to the Senate, had his election
quashed by the Court of Appeal in favour of Mrs. Emordi.

One of Mr. Igbeke’s
associates, Emmanuel Okereke, in a commentary, said Mrs. Emordi
initially enjoyed so much of goodwill from Mr. Igbeke, that he
bankrolled her celebration after the ruling, at the Top Rank hotel in
Abuja.

When NEXT asked Mrs Emordi about this, she said the comments was “funny to an extent that it should not be responded to.”

“That cannot be
true, God forbid,” she said in a stern tone. “Who is he? There is no
way he can sponsor me, and I will not even accept such sponsorship.”

Mrs. Emordi also
said she has no intentions of being drawn into discussions on the
matter, but will allow the court process to be completed. “I don’t ask
so much, it is only for the court to interpret, which is which having
given two opposing rulings to two persons,” she continued.

Case history

Shortly after Mrs.
Emordi was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) as the duly elected senator to represent Anambra North
senatorial zone in the 2007 general elections, her election was
challenged in court by Jessie Balonwu, one of the contestants.

Mrs. Balonwu was
contesting the validity of the election; asking the court to determine
whether the election was conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act
and whether Mrs. Emordi was duly returned as the winner of the
election.

The court subsequently dismissed Mrs. Balonwu’s suit on technical grounds.

Thereafter, Mr.
Igbeke filed his suit, in the same court, asking the court to declare
him winner of the election based on the conviction that he scored the
majority vote cast in the election.

On 25 March, the
appeal court ruled that Mr. Igbeke got the majority vote cast in the
election and therefore ordered that INEC issue him a Certificate of
Return.

When the news of
the ruling broke, Mrs. Emordi was in the middle of a Senate plenary.
She hurriedly left the plenary, shut her office and stayed away until
her controversial return.

While away, she
also instituted a suit in the same Enugu appeal court, to interpret the
judgment or, alternatively, set the judgement aside.

“This notice of
appeal defining the process of the Court of Appeal to seek
interpretation has been served on the Senate,” Mr. Eze said. “We will
be failing in our responsibilities, in duties to go and take any action
that will foreclose whatever that interpretation meant to achieve. So
we are just obeying lawful orders and we don’t have any reason
whatsoever in the light of the two judgements to ask Joy not to resume
her seat until we get the interpretation that is what happened.”

Rule of law

Lawyers however believe that the senate is setting a bad precedence for rule of law by readmitting Mrs Emordi so early.

“If we say we obey
the rule of law, we expect the Senate to obey the rule of law, and
swear in the rightful person, simple,” the NBA president said.

In his view, Mr.
Musa said “Even if you want an interpretation, you obey the court order
first. This is a slap on the rule of law. I expect the clerk of the
Senate – a civil servant – to obey the court and not take sides with
the politicians.

“ In all these
actions, the court is yet to issue an injunction restraining the Senate
from swearing in Mr. Igbeke or empowering them to re-admit Mrs. Emordi.”

According to Mr.
Igbeke, “It is possible that some of the senators may have sympathy for
her, but I must tell you that the constitution precedes; it’s a
constitutional issue.”

The Joy of the senate

Before now, Mrs.
Emordi was dubbed ‘Mama’ of the Senate for her age and ‘The Joy of the
senate’ for what many have called her “good virtues”.

However, all that
is gradually changing because some senators, who are not happy with the
way the leadership of the Senate is handling the matter, are beginning
to doubt her integrity.

“Joy (Mrs. Emordi)
herself came in by a judgment of the appeal court in 2005 when Emmanuel
Anosike bowed out for her,” a senator said, requesting anonymity. “We
believe she should also respect court now that it does not favour her.”

Mrs. Emordi was a hard-line senator who always took clear-cut stance on issues.

She was
instrumental to the dumping of two of the six constitutional amendment
bills that were sent to the Senate by the president. At that time, she
was famed for her “This bill is fit for the trash” comment on the bills.

She headed the senate committee on education, a committee she has chaired since 2005.