I Pity C’River APC, They Won’t Have Guber Candidate In 2023 -SAN
7 min read
Popular Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Ntufam Mba Ukweni was shocked that while a federal high court in Port Harcourt delivered judgement to the effect that anyone with dual citizenship cannot contest for governorship seat, the same court in Calabar which heard a similar matter, ruled differently. He has given the indication that the appellate court would have to settle the matter involving the APC deputy governorship candidate in Cross River, Peter Odey and the PDP in the state.
He told TNN in this interview that he was full of pity for the APC because at the end of the day, they will not have a candidate for the 2023 election.
Excerpts:
Today, the federal high court in Calabar gave judgement in the matter involving the PDP and the APC deputy governorship candidate.
Yes.
And the judge said you couldn’t prove your case concerning the dual citizenship of Peter Odey.
Yes.
And so the matter was struck out?
The matter was dismissed, that we couldn’t prove. But the preliminary objections raised by them were resolved in our favour.
Which were?
The preliminary issues that we had no locus to challenge the action, that it was an internal matter for APC, and that it does not come within the purview of pre-election matters. So, those points were resolved against APC.
The one they resolved against us is the one dealing with the substantive issue of citizenship, which is the main ground of our case. So the court decided that we did not prove the fact that Peter Odey took oath of allegiance to Great Britain.
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And ironically, that same matter came up in Rivers State today.
Yes, ironically. Similar issue came up in Rivers State.
And the same federal high court in Rivers State ruled against the APC on the grounds that Tonye Cole holds dual citizenship of the same UK.
Yes, of the same UK.
Why is the law like this?
Well, a colleague asked me a similar question, and I had to explain to him that, he is a lawyer and he knows that the judges might have looked at the issues from their respective perspective. But I feel a little worried about our own. The fact that Peter Odey has dual citizenship has been admitted and it is not in dispute, and it flows from there, that if he has accepted that he has dual citizenship and denied that he did not take oath of allegiance, it becomes quite ridiculous. Like I put it across during our adumbration, that, that type of argument is a ridiculous one because it’s like one saying as the judge is sitting there, to say that yes I am a judge but I did not take the oath of office, judicial oath to sit here, because you cannot be a judge and start functioning as a judge without taking judicial oath, or for a governor or president, to say yes I am a president or governor, but I did not take oath of allegiance and oath of office before I assumed office. So, it should have been implied even if nothing was said further. The fact of admission of dual citizenship should have settled that, that there is no how he could be a citizen of Great Britain without passing through the procedure necessary and incidental to be citizen of Great Britain, one of which is that oath of allegiance.
So, that means you are challenging the judgment.
Most likely, we need to confer with our client first, it is most likely we will challenge the judgment.
What will you be asking for when you challenge it?
We will ask the court of appeal to reverse the decision of the federal high court and grant the relief we are seeking; that being a citizen of Great Britain and enjoying dual citizenship disqualifies him from occupying the office of deputy governor and as a consequence, if he is not qualified, if the deputy is not qualified, then the governorship candidate himself cannot be qualified because the constitution makes it mandatory for the governor to nominate a deputy and it is a joint ticket. So if anything affects one, it affects the other. So, invariably what we are saying is that APC nominated no candidate for the governorship position in Cross River State. So, that is what we will be requesting the court of appeal to declare.
So, which means what played out in Bayelsa State in 2020 may play out eventually in Cross River State. Do you see that coming?
Well, if the opportunity manifests in that direction, we will take benefit of it.
What does this mean for the PDP and the APC as far as the 2023 election is concerned?
Well, for PDP, it is to their benefit, it makes the election easier for us. And for APC, it is unfortunate that they went on to nominate persons that are not qualified for those offices.
You pity the APC?
Yes, we pity them.
Calabar carnival is coming soon. How excited are you about it?
(Laughs) Well, I am not sounding pessimistic, but you know I have never trusted that this administration can do anything properly and my scepticism has not been faulted in any record. So, I can’t start rejoicing that what Ayade is going to do in the form of a carnival can be equated to, even to, what used to happen at carnival in Cross River State. The serenity of the city is not there, we are almost in December now. So if that is to be so, , by now, you know as it used to happen, that from September, you will hardly find a hotel in Calabar not fully booked, which the environment has to be conducive…
(Cuts in) So, how do you know hotels are not fully booked now?
The hotels are not fully booked, I am in Calabar and I relate with people here, I make use of hotels, my friends come into town. Hotels are not fully booked and people are not in the spirit of Christmas, as such because of the hardship.
Hardship? I’m not sure we should be talking of hardship in Cross River with the number of people that are benefitting from the government’s employment and empowerment and all of that.
(Laughs) Well, you are going into another area. Which employment? For instance, magistrates that they employed, how many years ago, has he paid them?
Some of them are still in court. Customary court judges and presidents have worked and exhausted their tenure and into a second tenure, they have not been paid. Appointments are made and they call the appointments foot on the table, what do they pay to those people? It’s not even enough to feed one person and that is why I keep saying, I said the policies of the government are counterproductive and uneconomic in nature. You can’t be dashing people money for doing nothing, because those people do nothing; they stay in their houses and receive alert of N20, N50 thousand. If that money is invested in productive ventures to employ those people to earn proper income, it will have a multiplier effect on the economy and will assist those people because they will work and actually earn income. But you said you have announced appointment for people, they have no offices, they have no work to do and it is at the end of the month they receive alert, and alert of an amount that cannot buy even a good pot of soup. So, don’t look at it from that perspective, that there are many people who have appointments in Cross River State and earn a lot. Those appointments are hollow appointments. For instance, I had to abandon my own appointment that was given in 2016. I was appointed chairman of the Cross River State Law Reform Commission and the law establishing the commission says commissioners in the commission should not be treated less than a high court judge, which means as the chairman, I should enjoy certain privileges that are equivalent to that of a chief judge. But how much were the members, commissioners in the law reform commission being paid? They were being paid less than N300, N400 thousand and one of them is a judge now. So a commissioner will come from Ogbudu, Ogoja to Calabar, he has no accommodation, he has no car, and will come to work in Calabar, with an income of N300, N400 thousand every month and you say those are the appointments. I asked everybody to go because you cannot function. You cannot leave your lucrative law practice where you are earning far, that should be money you should pay even for a trip, and then you have to go and sit down and work for a whole month and what they will pay you is N300, N400 thousand, for a lawyer because appointment into the commission is for very reputable and high standing lawyers.
