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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.”