Prince Ned Nwoko, renowned international lawyer and philanthropist, will on Friday 26th through Saturday 27th April 2019, be presented with an honorary Doctor of Science Degree (Honoris Causa) by the Nigeria’s foremost academic institution, Federal University of Petroleum, FUPRE, Effurun, Delta State. According to a statement from Ned Media Directorate, which was made available to cshowcasenews.com, Prince Nwoko will be receiving the prestigious honour with some eminent Nigerians for his outstanding contributions to social progress and human capital development in Nigeria.
A nomination letter dated 15th April 2019, signed by the Vice chancellor of the Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun, Professor A. O. Akii Ibhobode said Prince Nwoko was nominated for his pedigree of philanthropy, service and integrity. Professor Ibhodode said the University was convinced that Prince Ned Nwoko had evolved enduring legacies that would inspire the new generation to pursue their goals for the greatness of society.
The FUPRE honour is the second of such outstanding awards to be bestowed on Prince Ned Nwoko having received Doctorate in letters D.Litt .( Honoris Causa) from the Commonwealth University Belize ,North America in 1995.
Before coming to serve his people at the National Assembly, Prince Ned Nwoko had already set up and maintained one of the leading black law firms in the UK, where he practices as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. He is a Senior Consultant with Ned Nwoko Solicitors, a city of London firm of lawyers engaged in management and verification of foreign debts of Third World countries, including their component States.
He also served in Vision 2010- Committee set up by General Abacha which was then christened as the Assembly of some of the best minds within and outside the Country. Hon. Ned Nwoko was appointed Chairman of the External Committee of Vision 2010. The well-known monetization policy of the Federal Government should be credited to Hon. Ned Nwoko, who sponsored the bill and followed it up with a detailed explanation for the implementation of the government under President Olusegun Obasanjo. It is also instructive to note the bill he sponsored on Public Funds Recovery and Reward Commission which today is known as the whistle-blowing policy of the Federal Government being coordinated by the EFCC.
It is a known fact that it has become an effective tool in tackling corruption. He initiated the exit from London and Paris Club loans and is the author of all the reports that led to first, the Federal government stopping monthly deductions from states’ allocations and then the commencement of refunds to the states. He took Federal government to court on behalf of the 774 Local governments for the refund of illegal deductions and obtained a judgment of $3.2billion for the local governments. The Federal government of Nigeria has just started refunding these monies in line with the judgment of 2013. It should be recalled that the motion he moved on the National question later translated to the Constitution of the National Conference Committee that was set up under President Goodluck Jonathan. For a lawmaker with such a foresight over the years, it is only imperative that his works are clearly documented for history. Today as we reflect, we see many of his positions on National issues during his sojourn at the National Assembly gradually coming out to play in the present dispensation.
Hon. Ned Nwoko epitomizes diligence, assiduity, honor, integrity, compassion, benevolence and indeed finesses. He has a stubborn proclivity for distinction and he is a voracious reader that goes through any literature that comes his way. He is always of the view that a lawyer must know what is happening around him, hence he reads all major newspapers published in Nigeria on daily basis. Even his arch-rivals and adversaries always agree on one point that he pays attention to the minutest of details.
His capacity for giving is unassailable, his penchant for philanthropic activities is awe- inspiring and his proclivity for humanitarianism is unmistakable. He is an exceptionally good man with an outstanding pedigree. He is a recipient of several awards in recognition of his sterling qualities, exemplary character and contribution to human endeavors. He was a very serious minded legislator, interested in the creation of law to grow the economy, and alleviate grinding poverty across generations. Despite his tight schedules as an international lawyer, he has never lost contact with the people at the grassroots.
Nwoko vs Nwaoboshi Verdict, a Watershed in Electoral Jurisprudence
By Nzemeka Ogadinma Great oaks grow from little acorns, according to a wise saying. When Prince Ned Nwoko vowed to challenge the outcome of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] senatorial primaries not many people took him serious. Only a few believed that his audacious challenge of impunity and fraud would end up as the spark that would usher the beginning of the end of the cankerworm of manipulation of party primaries in Nigeria. However, that early perception of ‘an impossible mission to dare the monster of imposition and electoral malfeasance at the nomination level began to fade from Wednesday April 3, 2019 when Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja delivered a landmark judgment that has continued to resonate across the land. That epoch-making ruling was to the effect that Senator Peter Nwaoboshi was not the winner of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] primary held on October 2, 2018, to nominate its senatorial candidate for Delta North district in the 2019 general election.
The judge ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Prince Ned Nwoko as the rightful candidate of the PDP, having established the fact before the court that Nwoko scored a majority of the lawful votes in the primary. He also ordered Senator Nwaoboshi to stop parading himself as the candidate of the PDP for the Delta North senatorial district. Nwoko through his counsel Ahmed Raji (SAN), had dragged INEC, PDP and Nwaoboshi before the court praying for an order to stop INEC from publishing or further publishing the name of Nwaoboshi as the candidate for Delta North senatorial district. Nwoko also asked for another order compelling the PDP to forward his name to INEC as the authentic candidate of the party for the senatorial district in the 2019 general election. Nwoko who predicated his suit on seven grounds, which were supported by 20-paragraph affidavit evidence and five exhibits, claimed that he was screened and cleared for the Delta North senatorial district by the PDP Electoral Committee. He averred among other things, that at the end of the primary election, he scored 453 votes to defeat his closest rival, Nwaoboshi who scored 405 while Paul Osaji came third with 216 votes. Nwoko, however, declared that to his surprise, the PDP jettisoned the result of the primary election and forwarded Nwaoboshi’s name as its candidate for the senatorial district. He stated that all efforts to redress the injustice through the party’s appeal panel were frustrated and thus unsuccessful.
The pacesetting judgment has been attracting wide responses with many holding the view that the outcome of the case would take the nation’s jurisprudence on electoral matters a notch higher. One key aspect of the judgment that has generated interest is the fact that it beamed searchlight on the way and manner political parties conduct their intra-party primary elections to nominate candidates for general elections. The judgment also followed similar ones in Zamfara and Rivers states where shambolic party primaries marked by exclusion and other anomalies were conducted leading to long drawn legal tussles. But the particular case of Delta North senatorial district PDP primary was markedly distinct in view of the fact that it actually took place but was marred by underhand manipulations of the process by top officials who allegedly announced a tinkered version of the result. Thus the seeming orderly and peaceful conduct of the primary election was a mere façade. The charade that the conduct of that election represents is underscored by the fact that the exercise was littered with cleverly coated fraud and high wire manipulation. Inside sources confirmed that Prince Nwoko won the primary contest but officials instead fraudulently announced Nwaoboshi as the winner relying on falsely allocated figures which did not tally with the sum of valid ballot papers. Such an election that was not free, fair and transparent cannot be said to have been democratically done. It is thus a matter of relief that the fraudulent nature of that October 2 primary was confirmed through the laudable adjudication by the Federal High Court presided by Hon Justice Mohammed which reversed the injustice and established Ned Nwoko as the rightful winner of the contest.
The verdict of the judge was predicated on manifest evidence and facts which are provable. In other words, it is a judgment based on facts, an honest attempt to draw a reasonable conclusion from factual evidence. The judgment will not only likely stand the test of time, it may also end up serving as a vital precedent in future. It is gratifying to note that Nwaoboshi has challenged the judgment at the appellate court. If he is cocksure that he won the primary election fair and clean, the onus is now on him to prove so. But the question that has not been answered yet pertains to why his lawyers and those of the PDP disobeyed court subpoena to produce the ballot papers for recounting in open court. Could it be that they chose not to obey the subpoena because they knew that the process that produced Nwaoboshi was not clean enough to be exhibited before the open court? And in the absence of the original ballot papers used at the senatorial primary, the judge was left with no option than to admit the certified true copies tendered by Nwoko’s counsel and ruled based on verifiable evidence before him. Justice Mohammed’s ruling is therefore a judgment based on facts and an honest attempt to draw a reasonable conclusion from evidence that was not countered. The judgment in this case shows that Nigeria’s democracy is progressing and getting reformed somehow. Today, with this there is a valid court judgment to the effect that matter doesn’t just stop at inspecting the INEC ballot papers, the ballot papers used during the political parties’ primary elections can also be subjected to integrity test to establish their validity. For so long, the bulk of the rigging and manipulations had been perpetuated at the party level with unpopular candidates escaping with false victories and enjoying unmerited mandates. With this verdict as precedent, the ubiquitous cases of impunity, manipulation, imposition and sundry corruption in our electoral system particularly at the party primary level can now be successfully challenged and stripped bare to pave way for the emergence of truly chosen candidates by the people. The development is very healthy for the growth and sustenance of the nation’s democratic process. · Nzemeka Ogadinma wrote from Abbi, Ndokwa West LGA, Delta State
Prince Ned Nwoko 