Posted by 9jabook.com on November 5, 2009 at 8:00pm
More outrage greets Ojukwu’s war threat
BY OUR REPORTER
More Nigerians have continued to express their disgust over the comment credited to Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu that there would be war in the country if the Appeal Court rules in favour of Andy Uba.
Uba, the 2007 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had approached the court to seek a validation of the mandate handed to him in the April 14, 2007 election on the strength of which he was sworn in as the governor of Anambra State. Ruling on the matter has been reserved for today.
Ojukwu, who was the presidential flagbearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2007 election, had, in what many had criticised as potentially treasonable and threat to national peace, warned the court not to grant the petition of Uba.
The threat had since sparked off a flurry of open rebuke from eminent Nigerians, particularly sons and daughters of Anambra who feared such remark from a man who spearheaded a civil war in the country that claimed millions of lives was capable of inciting the public and consequently create an atmosphere of chaos to undermine the democratic process. advertisement
The latest of such rebuke came yesterday from Anambra True Democrats (ATD), a group of progressives from across the various political parties in the state. In a statement signed by its National Co-ordinator, Chief Bernard Odenigbo, the group said it was riled by the chants of war from the man who allowed his ego and personal ambition to rule his head and in the process dragged the Igbo people into war against a country their sons and daughters laboured so hard to build.
The group also warned those who predicted that victory for Andy Uba would create constitutional crisis to have a rethink, stressing that Nigerians should start imbibing the virtue of respecting judgement of courts even when it hurts them. “To say that victory for Uba would create constitutional crisis is tantamount to judicial ambush and intimidation and we urge the court to do what it considers the right thing. In any sane society, the law is not interpreted to suit the caprice of an individual or group of individuals who think they have the machinery for propaganda; the law is as spelt out by the court of law. To do otherwise, amounts to judicial thuggery and this is what Ojukwu and his tribe of war-mongers and violence brewers are trying to do. We condemn it,” the statement said.
“The case of Anambra is very tricky because politicians of lewd moral values have succeeded in fouling up the environment. It is, therefore, in the interest of Anambra people that a bit of judicial activism is deployed to stave off the crisis which the likes of Ojukwu and a few other politicians in the state are plotting to forment during the February 6, 2010 governorship election. We believe the judiciary can help clean up the mess by giving the judgement that is both expedient and logical,” the statement said.
In a veiled response to the Soludo Campaign Organisation and the Coalition of Human Rights Organisations in Anambra State, the group said as true democrats we have no choice but to obey the decision of the court, adding that it was the same court of law that made Peter Obi governor.
“If Peter Obi became governor on the strength of pronouncement by a court, why can’t the same Peter Obi and his supporters believe in the ruling of the same court of law when it hurts them? “Selective obedience to the ruling of a court is not acceptable to the people of Anambra State and to all true democrats in the country”, the statement said
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