Perspective – Emeruwa: When a Speaker is Living in Bondage

No doubt, the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Emmanuel Emeruwa, is under executive bondage that he cannot extricate himself from, hence, his recourse to ridiculing himself and office with puerile excuses for not inaugurating his brother and friend, Hon Aaron Uzodike, to represent the good people of Aba North State Constituency having been declared the winner of the last House of Assembly election in the constituency.

I have spoken to many of our mutual friends on this issue and they all say the same thing: “his hands are tied by the Governor.”Unfortunately, Emeruwa cannot expect sympathy from me because he knows that if I was in the same position as him, I would rise to do the right thing even if it would cost me the Speakership. I wept for Emeruwa when i first saw this video.Listen carefully and hear the speaker of Abia State House of Assembly and, by the grace of God, the chief lawmaker of our dear state, making excuses that a Year One Law student or even a legal illiterate like me will never make because it sounds wild and atrociously ridiculous.

He said the judgement of the Appeal Court that declared Uzodike as the rightful winner of the Aba North State constituency election did not ask him to inaugurate Aaron Uzodike, hence, he won’t perform that duty that the law expects him to perform by virtue of the public office he occupies.Mr Speaker, I feel very bad educating you on this issue because your statement ridicules our state as a place where square pegs are forced into round holes.

But my hands are tied by my conscience to still help you understand even though deep down I believe you already know these facts.1. The major document required to inaugurate a member of the house of assembly is the Certificate of Return from INEC. Not even CTC of a court order.2. Once the court directed INEC to issue the certificate of return to Aaron Uzodike, the job of the court was done. The reason is that INEC is the chief electoral body in the country and they were joined in the suit. The Office of the Speaker was not joined and, hence, the court had no business issuing direct order to that office.

The day you were accepted as member of Abia Stste House of Assembly, it was the same certificate of return from INEC that made the clerk of the house to accept you.3. As a public officer, there are certain duties you are ordinarily expected to perform hence you do not require any express court order to perform those duties. One of those duties is to inaugurate whoever INEC issues a certificate of return to as member of the house and your failure to execute that duty amounts to gross misconduct and you should have been impeached long ago if the PDP members of that house understood their role and have the expected courage to do it. What you said in this video amounts to police saying that they are waiting for a court order to specifically investigate or prevent crimes, which is part of their ordinary duties assigned by law.4.

The “Federal High Court of Appeal Abuja” judgement you mentioned in this video does not exist anywhere in the world and you lied, sir. You merely exposed your shallow understanding of the law even while “making laws” for the rest of us in Abia State.5.

For the information of those who may not know, Aaron Uzodike approached the Abuja Division of the Appeal Court on the 27th of February 2024 (more than 2 months after he was supposed to have been inaugurated as member representing Aba North) to sanction Speaker Emeruwa for contempt of court arising from his refusal to honor the judgement of the Appeal Court. The Presiding Judge advised that a contempt proceeding cannot be successfully sustained against the Speaker because the original court ruling did not specifically direct him on that since he was not a party to the election petition. Aaron was therefore advised to withdraw the contempt charge and his lawyer did that.

The “Federal High Court of Appeal” NEVER SAID SPEAKER EMERUWA CANNOT OR SHOULD NOT INAUGURATE AARON UZODIKE.

There is currently no legal impediment to the inauguration of Aaron Uzodike, hence, no need for any political settlement, as further stated by Speaker Emeruwa in that interview. 7. Mr Speaker previously cited an ex-parte order from Ukwa Division of Abia State High Court as reason for delaying the inauguration of Aaron Uzodike until we reminded him that such orders, if at all in existence, have a legal lifespan of maximum 7-14 days and, hence, must have expired.

Ultimately, we published the ruling by that same court on the 19th day of March 2024 dismissing the suit filed by Destiny Nwagwu. Yet, Mr Speaker refused, neglected and failed to perform his duty under the law.Mr Speaker, I hope you won’t feel bad with the next action I will personally take within the scope of the law to ensure that the rule of law is respected in Abia State for your sake, my sake, that of our children and children’s children? It will not be because I dislike or hate you, I surely don’t, but simply because I have to help untie your hands from the puppet master that is holding you hostage and in bondage. We have just celebrated Democracy Day because some people stood up to dictators and Emperors to demand that rule of law be respected. It is now our turn to do same in our state and I won’t shy away from doing it since you have repeatedly failed to untie your own hands or escape from the bondage of your bond masters.

While you and your colleagues are enjoying the ongoing multi-million naira retreat in Uyo and we wait to read how many billions of Abia money will be retired as “capacity building and training” in Quarter 2 of the 2024 financial report, my friends in Uyo have been mocking me regarding what is going on in that hotel but that’s not my business. Just like the allegation you made that Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, IVM (Innoson motors) collected hundreds of millions of naira from Abia State Government for official cars for House members and are yet to supply.

Though I wish you had asked those who paid Innoson exactly what the deal was before you erroneously expose someone higher than you. But ya diwa, not my business!!Accept my greetings from the wilderness of Abia State but you must inaugurate Aaron Uzodike or resign as Speaker to enable someone who understands the job and has the courage to do it emerge and do the needful.

By Chief John Okiyi Kalu