Ayomide
“The appellant has been shuttling from one court to another on a matter that the Supreme Court had already delivered jugement. The Supreme Court can only reverse itself on the condition that there were issues of collusion and corruption, and we know the procedure… I have carefully listened to the submissions and arguments canvassed by counsel to all parties in this appeal and come to the conclusion that the appeal is a thorough abuse of the court process and is hereby dismissed. It is trite law that there must be an end to litigation” – Honourable Justice Idris Kutigi, Chief Justice of Nigeria.
Last Thursday, Nigeria’s Supreme Court finally sealed the bid by the impostor, Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba, to use it to award him the governoship of Anambra state. As the quote above shows, the Supreme Court was angry about the abuse of the processes of law by the fake ‘Doctor’. Regular readers of this column would have noticed that I am particularly angry about the ‘Andy’ Uba phenomenon, because it is a graphic example of how our country has been taken to dogs, and an expression of a nation which operates from the lowest common denominator. Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba, was so desperate to be governor, after spending eight years as Special Assistant on Domestic Matters (whatever such a job description really means) to the old despot, Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 199, Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba was a nondescript American-based hustler, who somehow wormed his way into the heart of the newly-elected Olusegun Obasanjo. Over the next eight years, Andy Uba consolidated his position as an essential gate into the Obasanjo presidency. On the one hand was the myth that he carefully constructed as a “highly successful” American-based businessman, before he came to the presidency. It was a lie; Uba was anything but.he also sold the lie that he was a holder of a doctorate degree and that was the biggest lie told by the poseur. He only has a secondary school certificate, but so slick has ‘Andy’ Uba been, that members of the nomenclatural and sections of the press address him as ‘Doctor’ which he laps with relish.
Because of the central role that he occupied in the ‘domestic matters’ of Obasanjo, the myth of ‘Andy’ Uba as route to presidential favours spread like veldt fire and the chap found an avenue to rake in a fortune. On the one hand, corrupt governors, heads of government departments and sundry businessman seeking favours from the despot would get facilitation through ‘Andy’ Uba. On the other hand, Obasanjo found his ‘domestic matters’ minders so useful, that he acquiesced in the expansion of the territory which he controlled in the presidency. It therefore came to pass, that the barely-educated impostor, Nnadmi ‘Andy’ Uba, began to control vital national instituons such as INEC and the NNPC. Nigeria never had it so bad inits history! ‘Andy’ Uba was single-handedly responsible for the appointment of Maurice Iwu as Chairman of INEC and so beholden was the equally controversial Maurice Iwu, that he would genuflect with sincere submission in the presence of ‘Andy’ Uba and is said to answer him “Yes Sir”!
The master servant relationship between Andy Uba and Maurice Iwu reached a head in thelead to the 2007 elections. Uba must be governor by all menas and Iwu pulled stops to ensure it, INEC banned every personwho could defeat a man with no home base and is detested by Anambra people for the rascality his family has visited on the popel. So when the election ‘results’ were announced, INEC allocated more figures than the registered voters, in the over-effusiveness to show that ‘Andy’ Uba’won’! they subsequently began to readjust the giures in utter embarranssment; but the impostor was declared winner and he strutted around for about two weeks, before the courts finally removed him; an act which was greeted with celebrations around Nigeria, not just in Anambra state.
But so desperate has ‘Andy’ Uba remained to be governor, that he embarked on a very costly legal adventure, which Honourable Justice Ktigi properly described as an abuse of court process, since 2007. The question to ask is why that desperation? There are many plausible answers. In the first place, Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba needs immunity for himself as well as Obasanjo. Far too many dirty things were done under their watch in the oil sector and the electoral system, that if the regime in power had been a seriod one, it would have sought our ‘Andy’ Uba for explanations. A serious nation would equally have been interested in finding out how Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba became the multi-billionaire that he is said to be now, knowing the near-zero level from where he arrived at the presidency!
Similarly, there is the subjective issue of ego massage; Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba ruled the presidential roost for eight years, and had many of those parading the corridors of power today, seeking his favours. He genuinely believes that is where his stupendous wealth should place him today; after all, he is stillwheeling and dealing within the PDP and is regularly in the company of Aliko Dangote. Bukola Saraki and others. In his world of delusion, ‘Andy’ Uba, feels he should also be in control of the monthly revenue allocationaccruing to Anambra state (to do as he pleases) as well as being a frontline member of the political elite. More thanmost, he has after all, used a mixture of cunning, ruthlessness and unbridled lies to get to where he became almost more powerful than the president of the country! Governorship is therefore a natural progression which he coveted with consuming desperation. Fortunately for Nigeria, the Supreme Court took the wind from his sail.
Nigerians must take stock and ponder the misfortune of ascendancy by characters like Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba! It is an insult; and it explains why we are in the intermindable crisis of underdevelopment which eats the soul of Nigeria ever so tragically! Characters like Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba ought to be explaining how they came about in the first place, not displaying the temerity to want to be our rulers. Governor Sule Lamido might also want to ask about the billions of Jigawa money that Saminu Turaki said he handed over to ‘Andy’ Uba to facilitate Obasanjo’s Third Term Agenda! In the final analysis, we must be happy that the Supreme Court finally ended the delusion of the impostor Emmanuel Nnamdi ‘Andy’ Uba. He belongs in the dustbin of history not the Awka government house!
Blackout at Aso Villa
It was reported that laws week’s FEC meeting couldn’t hold, because of power failure at the Aso Villa. Very well then; why not seek for an emergency supply of candles, bush lanterns, I-pass-my-neighbour-generators and even touch lights! There is work in progress over the Seven-point Agenda (to nowhere!) that power failure shouldn’t handcap Yar’Adua’s regime!
