Prediction: Major legal upset to expect this week
2 min read
By DPA Rambo
You may recall that right from December last year, immediately after Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK) was convicted, Rambo questioned his conviction. Unfortunately, some of challenged Rambo. No problem.
On Friday, 8th May, the Nigerian Supreme Court shall be empaneled by 7 justices to render its judgment on the appeal filed by OUK challenging the jurisdiction of the court that convicted him. Normally, the Supreme Court is empaneled by 5 justices. But when they are invited to interpret the Constitution against any other law, the panel of justices will be 7. That is what is happening on Friday.
Rambo believes that the Court of Appeal Judge who sat at the Federal High Court to convict OUK did not have the power to do so. He was aware of the fact that he lacked jurisdiction. But he went ahead to do it over the objections and protests of OUK and his lawyers. Obviously it was an arrangee. And an innocent man was convicted and taken out of the game as planned.
There is a serious constitutional issue at stake. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 says that the Judge could do that. But Nigerian Constitution 1999 says he couldn’t do that. When an Act clashes with the Constitution, you know what happens. Section 1 of the Constitution, known as supremacy clause, says that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and that any other law that is inconsistent with the Constitution shall be rendered void to the extent of the inconsistency. So, you can figure out what to expect.
Rambo expects OUK to be a free man on Friday. Rambo expects his conviction to be quashed and a trial de novo ordered. OUK will be back in his Senate office on Monday continuing from where he was interrupted. And if that happens, he will be the unbeatable child of destiny and the greatest come-back kid of Nigerian politics after Awolowo and Obasanjo. Indeed, he will be better than those two because they were pardoned, while in OUK’s case the conviction will be quashed. When a conviction is quashed, it means it never happened and there is no wrongdoing to pardon him for.
Rambo is a legal genius, but not God. So, take the above only as a prediction by the genius.
More about the law and the facts of the case to come once the judgment is delivered. I don’t want to display more intelligence here and get into trouble for that.
