Peter Umeadi: A Focused, Detribalised Presidential Aspirant

Professor Peter Nnanna Chukwudi Umeadi, FCAbr is an Emeritus Chief Judge of Anambra State and a Life Bencher. He is seeking to contest the 2023 presidential election on the ticket of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), a political party which he joined in March, 2019 at Nri Ward I in his hometown, Agukwu Nri, Anambra State.

Uppermost in the mind of the retired but not tired erudite judge is the burning passion and desire to reconcile Nigerians across the length and breadth of the country and consequently reposition the Federal Republic of Nigeria in four (4) years, after the presidential election of 2023.

As he puts it: “We could only achieve the reconciliation with humility and self effacement. Collectively the governing class, that is men and women, who find themselves entrusted with power to govern should learn to remove themselves from the picture.

“Governance should be seen for what it is, holding forth for the masses of Nigerian citizens. We should show that the natural and human resources of our richly endowed country would be applied to and for the benefit of the greatest number of our citizens.

“The detachment from personal gain should steer us away from corruption and double standards with their attendants ills. We should draw a line whereby henceforth probity, accountability and dedication would reflect in all our actions, both as the leaders and the followership, in our public and private lives.

“Moving on from that line, all our output should reflect a future of patriotism and collective reconstruction and mutual uplifting of all segments of our society. The corrupt, parochial, divisive ways of the past should be a taboo and completely forgotten.”

Umeadi, endorsed, last January, by the Association of South-East Past Presidents-General, comprising more than 2000 communities in the five states in the zone as the Igbo candidate for the 2023 elections, is not resting on his oars. He is not leaving any stone unturned in pursuit of the realisation of his presidential ambition.

Professor Umeadi has been building friendship across all parts of the country, setting up coordinators for the Peter Umeadi for President 2023 in almost all the geopolitical zones in the country.

As at the last count, apart from the South-East, headed by Dr (Mrs) Nkechi Ibeneme, Barrister Yakubu Ahmed Mohammed is leading the enthusiastic coordinators of the seven states in the North-West, while Arc Olatubosun Adedeji is the arrowhead of the coordinators in the South-West in the struggle by Professor Umeadi to entrench a new political structure in the country.

Speaking on why Professor Umeadi was endorsed by the Igbo candidate for the 2023 presidential election, National President of the Association of South-East Past Presidents-General, Mazi Omife I. Omife (Mbuze Mbaukwu), on 15 January, 2015, said: “The Association found Professor Peter Umeadi as the most eligible, credible, sellable and usable of all potential Igbo presidential candidates.”

Mazi Omife added that Umeadi was picked ahead of 19 other potential aspirants, based on the following criteria: courage, integrity, true Nigerian, education, Igbo advocate, global connections and true Igbo son.

At this juncture, it is appropriate to know more about the man called Professor Peter N. C. Umeadi. He attended the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Enugu Campus and graduated with LL.B (Hon) in 1979.

He was introduced to politics same year when his late uncle and the vice presidential candidate of the then Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the 1979 presidential election, Chief Philip Imeadi, took him to Ikenne, Ogun State where he was introduced to the sage, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

The APGA presidential aspirant, who attended the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Conference, held in Ibadan, Oyo State, where the late Alao Aka-Bashorun Esq was elected as NBA President, has a very intimidatingly interesting and enthralling credential namely:

He was the longest serving Chief Judge of the Anambra State Judiciary. He was, at various times, the administrative judge of nearly all the judicial divisions in the state, including Ihiala, Aguata, Idemili, Awka and Onitsha;

He served as Chairman of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that looked into the disturbances at the UNIZIK Junction by students of the Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka during the visit of President Olusegun Obasanjo to Anambra State for a tree planting ceremony on 18 August, 2000;

He was designated judge for Anambra State for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in May, 2001;

He was the chairman of the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal which, in a unanimous decision in 2008, ousted Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor and ordered the swearing of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the state governor;

He was a member of the National Judicial Council (NJC) from July, 2011 to July, 2013;

He also served as a member of the Board of Governors, National Judicial Institute (NJI) from July, 2011 to February, 2019.

Professor Umeadi, without doubt, left the Anambra State Judiciary better than he met it. This can be seen in the following scorecards:

He initiated the process of appointment of over 20 judges;

He appointed 20 magistrates and mobilised them with vehicles;

He provided Law Pavilion App to all the judges, the Chief Registrar, all deputy chief registrar and magistrates. The magistrates were given laptops too;

He increased the judicial divisions in the state 10;

He bequeathed to the judiciary, arguably, the most scientific and functional High Court Rules in Nigeria;

He made the first High Court Rules to provide for an interface with ADR in the same document, thereby elucidating the concept of pre-trial conference (PTC), putting same in its proper place;

He created the Anambra State Judiciary Multi Door Courthouse;

He appointed, for the first time in Nigeria, DCRs of Evaluation to conduct PTC and handle non-contentious interlocutory applications. This paved the way for only matters ripe for hearing to go before the judges, thereby enhancing speedy decision of cases;

He developed the manpower of the state judiciary by sending as many as 85 members of staff to NJI, Abuja in one seminar, when other states sent five. It became a yearly routine through a transparent process;

He created support for the welfare and remuneration of staff;

He revamped infrastructure in housing, logistics and tools of work. Under his watch, 16 new residential buildings were erected for judges, while Magistrate Courts were refurbished;

He purchased buses, cars and utility vehicles for all departments;

Under him, all High Courts were air conditioned and every administrative unit revitalised, while the Probate Department was overhauled.

Special Honours Medallion for being a Shining Light to Anambra State and a Model for the youths (2011);

Vanguard Newspaper Man of the Year, 2008;

Commemorative Plaque from Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Anambra State chapter (2009);

Award of Excellence by Ndigbo Lagos (2009);

Patron, Anambra Book and Creative Network (ANBUKRAFT);

Distinguished Old Boys Award by Christ the King College, Onitsha Old Boys Association, Lagos Branch (2001);

Award of Committed Learned Friend and Patron of the Bar by Committee of Chairmen and Secretaries of NBA, Anambra State (2015);

Award by Howzat Foundation for Development of Cricket in Schools in Anambra State (2006);

Distinguished Honorary Fellow of the Sompong Sucharitkul Center for Advanced International Legal Studies, Golden University of Law, San Francisco, California, USA (2017);

Award of Excellence from “The Black Table”, Chambers of Chief Rotimi Williams SAN (2011);

Member, Board of Editorial Advisers, Faculty of Law Journal, Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu (2019);

President, Anambra State Scout Council.

Chairman, Founder’s Day Lecture, UNN (2016);

Guest Lecturer, Dignity of Man Lecture, UNN (2016);

Former member, Board of World Jurist Association;

Former President, World Association of Judges (under the auspices of World Jurist Association);

Trustee of World Association of Judges (incorporated with CAC/T/No 128034;

Member, Organising Committee of World Law Congress 2021 of the World Jurist Association saddled with arranging the Nigeria Opening Session, tagged the African Round Table, including eminent jurists across Africa;

Adorned on Wall of Fame, Good Category, Faculty of Law, UNN, Enugu Campus (2020).

1. The Day The Eagle Emerged: Selected Rulings, Judgments and Reviews;

2. Forensic Brainstorming: Chronicle of the Chief Judge’s Dinners In Anambra State Judiciary (2012 to 2018);

3. Civil and Criminal Litigations by Livinus Ifeatu Nwokike Esq. JP, in Honour of Hon. Justice Peter C. N. Umeadi, Chief Judge of Anambra State.

Indeed, the country may not find a better candidate to occupy the Office of the President than Professor Peter N. C. Umeadi, a man whose aspiration is predicated on popular votes at the polls from a majority of Nigerians.

He thus declared: “It is correct to say that my aspiration, my face and my name have spread to all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

“Together as citizens we have a duty. Let us respect the ballot. Let us canvass and sustain free and fair elections. Let only valid votes count. Validity of votes permeate capacity to vote down to announcement of the correct results. The struggle continues.”