Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan loses tenure elongation suit

[TGD]

[attachimg=1] 24 hours after he adjourned judgment as a result of power outage by the state owned Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court Asaba on Tuesday dismissed Delta State Governor Emmnauel Uduaghan's bid to elongate his tenure.

In the watershed judgment which lasted almost two hours, Justice Buba ruled that Uduaghan's continued stay in office beyond May 29, 2011, without the conduct of a proper election would be deemed illegal and subsequently ordered  that  governorship election must be conducted in the state come April 16, 2011.

In quashing the application, Justice Buba said unequivocally that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is duty bound to conduct a fresh governorship election in the state.

While Uduaghan who apparently did not want to be caught unprepared in the event of an unfavourable judgment was far in Obiaruku, Ukwani Local Council on a campaign stump, the Director General of his Campaign Organization, Chief Paulinus Akpeki, top government and PDP officials were visibly present in the crowded court room and in the vicinity.

Buoyed by his victory in the governorship re-run election of last January 6 following the cancellation of the controversial April 14, 2007 election by Justice Monica Dongban Mensah of the Appeal Court, Benin, Edo State on November 9, 2010, Uduaghan of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) had approached the court to determine whether his tenure would terminate in 2015 by virtue of the fact that he took a new oath of office on January 10, 2011.

In the application by his counsel Mr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), the governor had argued that the November 2010 judgment by the Benin appellate court nullified both his earlier victory and the May 29, 2007 oath of office.

But Justice Buba disagreed, insisting: "I hold that the plaintiff (Uduaghan) is not entitled to four years term having regards to the amendment of section 180(2A), in the final analysis, he is not entitled to the reliefs sought, and subsequently the declarative relief sought and the injunction sought cannot be granted, the case of the plaintiff (Uduaghan) fails and the case is hereby dismissed."

Justice Buba said that both the election of last January 6 and the oath of office of January 10, 2011 are to be determined by section 180(2A), stressing that he was "more inclined to agree with the submission of the defendants (INEC) that the Constitution did not contemplate a situation where the governor will serve for seven years in office in the place of four years."

Source: Uduaghan loses tenure elongation suit