Re: Anambra Poll: Court Orders INEC To Prosecute Ubah, Returning Officer

By AIF Media

I read the above news item on the Punch Online Platform this evening. According to the news report, the federal high court Awka ordered INEC to prosecute Prof Umenweke, the Returning Officer for Anambra south senatorial election for announcing Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah winner of the February 23 senatorial election.

The above headline is misleading as the court never asked INEC to prosecute Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah nor the Returning Officer, Prof Umenweke.


The court merely asked INEC to investigate the claims of Chief Chris Uba within 14 days. It is a known fact that INEC do not have powers to prosecute criminal allegations. It is only the security agencies that prosecute criminal offences if any.

The court in asking INEC to investigate the allgations of chief Chris Uba against Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah and Prof Umenweke understands that it is only the tribunal that can
entertain post election matters.

It is unfortuate that Chief Chris Uba has no confidence on the tribunal and has chosen to use the regular court to pursue a post election matter.

It is obvious that the PDP candidate has no evidence of any election malpractice, fraud or irregularity to upturn the victory of Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah at the tribunal.

What actually does Chris Uba, the candidate of PDP want? He was defeated at the polling units. The question on the lips of ndi Anambra south is what offense did the Returning Officer commit that Chris Uba is asking for his arrest and prosecution.


According to the news item published on the Punch news online, the PDP candidate said, 'Prof Umenweke should be prosecuted for announcing or publishing a false result to the effect that Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah had won the election held on 23/2/2019 even when they both knew that the said election was inconclusive and from which no genuine result had thereby been generated.'

If Chris Uba has evidence that the results announced by the Retuning Officer were falsified or did not meet the requirement of the law, why cant he gather the authentic results and head to the tribunal. What is he doing at the regular court seeking to arrest the Returning Officer?

To Uga brothers, Anambra south senatorial zone belongs to their family. His attempt to get the Returning Officer declare the result inconclusive failed as the frivolous petition he hastily drafted few hours after the declaration of the result was found to be unsubstantiated upon investigation.

Chris Uba in his desperation rushed to the court to stop INEC from issuing certificate of return to Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah which the court declined.

Yesterday, his application seeking the order of the court to arrest and prosecute the Returning Officer was rejected rather the court asked INEC to investigate his claims within 14 days.


Chief Chris Uba wants to go to the senate by imposing himself on ndi Anambra south senatorial district despite the overwhelming rejection he faced at the poll.

Let's look at the results again;
1. Aguata LGA
APGA - 10, 031
PDP - 10,046
YPP - 12,629

2. Nnewi north
APGA - 2,155
PDP - 5,849
YPP - 28,101

3. Nnewi south
APGA - 11,156
PDP - 4,818
YPP - 7,930

4. Ihiala
APGA - 9,740
PDP - 10,682
YPP - 9,478

5. Orumba south
APGA - 5,479
PDP - 4,397
YPP - 10,511

6. Orumba north
APGA - 6,617
PDP - 10,056
YPP - 7,533

7. Ekwusigo
APGA - 6,451
PDP - 6,614
YPP - 10,899

Total
APGA - 51,629
PDP - 52,462
YPP - 87,081

These are the LGA results collated from the polling units up to the 7 LGAs in the zone and announced by the Returning Officer.

Therefore, what Chief Chris Uba is asking the federal high court Awka is an abuse of the judicial process. There is no security report indicting the Returning Officer or the conduct of the election.

It is therefore against the election guideline and electoral act for the Returning Officer to have declared the election inconclusive to please Chief Chris Uba.

However, the attempt by Chris Uba to smear the integrity of the Returning Officer, Prof Umenweke Nnama and that of the Senator-elecr, Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah using a regular court that has no business in a post election matter is an academic exercise that will end in the dustbin of history.

AIF Media will publish the judgement of the federal high court tomorrow to prove that at no point did the honourable court order for the prosecution or either the Returning Officer or Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah.