The Supreme Court has dismissed an application by Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party seeking to remove Hope Uzodinma from office as Imo state governor.
The apex court, on Tuesday, declined to sack Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State from office with a seven-man panel of the court, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, dismissing an application seeking the removal of Uzodinma from office on the premise that he was not validly nominated by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to contest the election that led to his first tenure in 2019.
Ihedioha and the PDP had in the application argued that since the apex court recognised Nwosu as the candidate of the APC, there was no legal basis for its judgment which sacked Ihedioha and declared Uzodinma who was also sponsored by the same APC, as the valid winner of the governorship poll.
In the application, the party also argued that the Supreme Court did not rule on the validity of Uzodinma’s candidacy since it was not challenged by Ihedioha and the PDP in the appeal marked SC/1462/2019.
The applicant, therefore sought the court for a consequential order, directing the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue a certificate of return to Ihedioha as the validly elected governor of Imo state in the 2019 election.
Counsel to Ihedioha received a dressing down from the apex court as one of the justices on the panel, Justice Okoro, had while asking the counsel for the applicant, Mike Ozekhome, SAN if the court had jurisdiction to hear the matter, warned that frivolous cases would not be tolerated.
“In the atmosphere we are in now, we will not entertain speculative matters. You must come to this court with a genuine matter. Counsel knows the truth before any matter is brought to court. Recently people bring in impossible matters to the judiciary then they go to social media to denigrate the court. You know we do not have jurisdiction. This is an election-related matter, you know the 60 days given to us by the constitution had elapsed”, Justice Okoro stated.
But Ozekhome, citing a number of cases said the apex court had jurisdiction on the matter.
The apex court didn’t buy the SAN’s argument and proceeded to award a personal cost of N40 million against Chief Mike Ozehkome, SAN, who represented the PDP and Ihedioha in the matter.
The case, which stayed in the docket of the apex court for three years, was initially fixed for hearing in October but was later postponed until after the recent governorship poll in the state that led to Uzodinma’s re-election.
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