STEPH CLEM
Abia state governor, Theodore Orji has officially presented the Abia governorship law report to the public for reference at all times.
It is a book compiled in honour of the governor and edited by no less a person than Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, a senior advocate of Nigeria. The book was reviewed by former Commissioner for Justice, Jude Nnodim another senior advocate.
The book which is a compilation of all governorship electoral and pre electoral judgments of Gov. Orji arising from the general elections of 2007 and 2011, runs through 576 pages.
There are a total of 11 court decisions from the lower court to the Supreme Court with Chief Orji winning all the cases captured in this very volume.
According to the book reviewer, Jude Nnodim, who described the law report as unique, considering its focus on one man, who is a politician and a governor and only on electoral case concerning him, ‘the book is a genre of private law reporting’.
He said that even though the governor is not a lawyer or judicial officer, he has also been given the rare privilege of adorning the cover and back pages of the book, saying that it is so because there might never be another T.A. Orji as governor of Abia state again.
He therefore recommended the book for references to lawyers and the reading public given the issues that were handled in the book.
In his address, the editor of the book, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, described Chief Orji as a man with high principles who has not changed his qualities even as a governor.
He pointed out that the governor suffered long legal challenges in his first term as governor spanning a period of 3yrs and 2months and had only 10 months of freedom before his re election in 2011 after which he continued in courts again until 2012 when he had the final legal battle of his mandate.
The governor, who felt elated at the honour done him by the compilation, noted that those challenges were what made him a better person and leader.
He thanked all the contributors to the book for their effort and directed that every higher institution in the country with law department receives a copy of the book.
