“I am of the view that after the election of Dr. Ngige was nullified by the court and Mr. Peter Obi was declared as the new elected governor there ought not to be a fresh proclamation order  by the new Governor. The election of a new governor during the unexpired tenure of yet another distinct arm of the government has no effect on the status of the members of the House of Assembly.

There is no vacuum in government. It should be borne in mind that the period Dr. Ngige served as governor of Anambra State was not and could not have been declared illegal. Therefore, government activities and functions being a continuous process, all the official duties of the governor carried out from the time Dr. Ngige was legally sworn in as governor and the time the Court of Appeal, being the final court on the matter ordered that he should vacate the seat would be considered as official duties of Governor of Anambra State.

Those on members of the State House of Assembly e.t.c., remain legal, valid and irreversible. He only ceased to be Governor when the court said so. In other words, the term of four years of the other arm of Government, that is, the legislature, is not affected, bearing in mind the constitutional limitation of the term.

Section 105(1) of the 1999 Constitution under which the members of the House of Assembly took oath states thus:

“105(1)     A House of Assembly shall stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the date of the first sitting of the House.”

There is no doubt that the first sitting of the House of Assembly of Anambra State commenced with the proclamation order by Dr. Ngige and it shall expire after four years thereafter.

The application of the interim valid period can be counted in respect of the declaration of Dr. Ngige by INEC, as the democratically elected Governor of Anambra State in the 2003 general election.

The proclamation made by him in 2003 which constituted the first session of Anambra State House of Assembly remains valid by effect of Section 105(1)(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The subsequent nullification of the Election of Dr. Ngige, 35 months after the proclamation of the Anambra State House of Assembly, cannot be affected because, at the time the action was taken, it was valid in law.

The subsequent proclamation of the Anambra State House of Assembly on 21st of March, 2006 by Mr. Peter Obi, after his victory at election tribunal, in my own opinion was, a mere surplusage. The house validly had spent 35 months exercising lawful legislative duties. The life of the Anambra State House of Assembly proclaimed in 2003 which spent 4 years of legislative business as envisaged by section 105(1) and (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must come to an end after the expiration of that period, and no more.”

I submit that the second subscription to the Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance is unnecessary and where taken in the case of re-run governors, they relate back to the date of the first or initial subscription to the Oaths: See Jatua v. Ahmed (2003) 12 WRN 110 at 120; Enigbokun v. AIT CO. NIG. LTD (1994) (Pt. 348) 1 at 15; Warner v. Sampson (1959) 1 QB 297 at 321.

Consequently, on the strength of the current position of the relevant or applicable laws as already expounded by the Supreme Court, from judicial and statutory authorities, the tenure of the re-run governors ought to and shall validly expire by effluxion of time on May 29, 2011.

Concluded