Imo judgment: Group faults Supreme Court

A coalition of civil society organisations has faulted the Supreme Court judgment which sacked Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo State.

In a media briefing in Abuja on Sunday, the coalition said that the Supreme Court was wrong to have removed Ihedioha and replaced him with the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hope Uzodinma as Imo governor,  in the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.

The group faulted the judgment on the ground that the apex court did not take into account evidence adduced by the parties at the trial.

The coalition said presently the country’s condence “in the judiciary is at the lowest and we believe that the Supreme Court can help to restore it and save future elections.”

The Supreme Court on January 14 nullified the election of Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Imo State and declared Uzodinma as the winner.

The seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad gave the unanimous decision.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Ihedioha winner of the election in Imo.

INEC said Ihedioha polled 273,404 ahead of his closest rival and candidate of the Action Alliance, Uche Nwosu, who the electoral body said scored 190,364 votes.

By the INEC result, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Ifeanyi Ararume, came third ahead of Uzondinma who came fourth.

Meanwhile, speaking with the journalists on Sunday, Dr. Manzo Abubakar, Executive Director, Abuja Discussion Group, on behalf of other groups, called on Ihedioha “to approach the Supreme Court to correct the patent errors in their judgment to ensure that justice is not only done but manifestly seen to be done.

“We also urged the Supreme Court to take courage and recall the Imo State Governorship and correct the error and restore justice, peace, hope and faith in our democracy and regain the confidence of the Nigerian people.”

The group urged the apex court to adopt “a judicial doctrine of necessity.”

Among the civil societies that attended the briefing, include: Transparency Centre Network, Movement for the Protection of Peoples Rights, Coalition for Good Governance and Accountability, Network for Freedom and Defence of Democracy, Center for Human Rights and Justice, Human Rights and Accountability Project, Rights Monitoring Network, Association of African Writers on Human and People Rights(AFRIRIGHTS); Youths for Electoral Transparency (YFET); Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy, among others.