Ihedioha Loses Bid to Reclaim Imo Governorship Seat as S/Court Dismisses Review Application

The Supreme Court has dismissed the sacked governor Emeka Ihedioha’s   application to upturn the court’s January 14 judgement.

A seven-man panel of the apex court led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, in a split ruling of six-to-one, described the application by Ihedioha  as an invitation to sit in an appeal over its judgment.

But Justice Chima Nweze, in disagreeing with the majority judgment, held that the Supreme Court had the power to overrule itself in a desirous situation.

He affirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision which upheld Ihedioha’s victory, adding that the apex court in the January 14, 2020 judgment wrongly declared Uzodima’s winner of the last governorship election

In the suit, Mr Ihedioha asked the apex court to review its judgement which sacked him as the governor of Imo State.

Nweke argued that the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, misled the court in arriving at the judgment which removed Ihedioha from office after about 10 months.

According to the judge, there is no evidence that Governor Uzodinma satisfied the required spread to have been declared the winner of the election.

He, therefore, told other judges on the panel that the judgment upholding Uzodinma’s victory in the March 9, 2019 poll would continue to haunt the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.