removeClass and addClass don't work

Question

i have a statement that checks if a tab is selected:

$( '#social_edit_pannels' ).tabs({
select: function(event, ui) { 
var theSelectedTab = ui.index;

if (theSelectedTab  == 0) {
$('ul li.ep-messages').removeClass('ep-messages').addClass('ep-messages-click');
$('ul li.ep-friends').removeClass('ep-friends-click').addClass('ep-friends');
}
else if (theSelectedTab  == 1 ) {
$('ul li.ep-friends').removeClass('ep-friends').addClass('ep-friends-click');
$('ul li.ep-messages').removeClass('ep-messages-click').addClass('ep-messages');
}
   }
});

What is happening is that only the first statement of remove'ing and adding classes works from each if statement.

for example when i run the script, it behaves like it would have only this:

if (theSelectedTab  == 0) {
$('ul li.ep-messages').removeClass('ep-messages').addClass('ep-messages-click');
}
else if (theSelectedTab  == 1 ) {
$('ul li.ep-friends').removeClass('ep-friends').addClass('ep-friends-click');
}

the second statement from each if... doesn't work. maybe it doesn't know if the classes are there??

any ideas?