The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of calling for war with what it described as “reckless comments” by its National Chairman, Uche Secondus who called for the immediate review and reversal of the decision of the Supreme Court on the Imo State governorship election.
The apex court had declared Hope Uzodinma, candidate of the APC as the winner of the March 9 governorship election in Imo State and sacked Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP.
Reacting to the judgment, Secondus said reviewing the Supreme Court’s decision would be in the interest of justice and also called on Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Tanko to resign.
But in his response, APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole argued that PDP made reckless statements that are designed to intimidate the judiciary with a view to undermining the peace and stability of the Nigerian nation.
Oshiomhole, at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, hailed the apex court for the sound judgment, insisting that the PDP candidate did not have the spread to be declared winner of the Imo state governorship election.
“We commend the courage of the Supreme Court and we condemned the attempt by Secondus and the PDP to try to personalise a panel of eminent jurist in their unanimous judgment who were clear about the position of the law and these are the fact.
“For Secondus and the PDP to call for the resignation of the Chief Justice of Nigeria because they have lost a state that they never won. I want to appeal to them not to behave like the proverbial English Turkey that wanted the Christmas to come a little early because on Christmas day, every English man will slaughter a Turkey.
“When they make statement such as this is a coup, this is a threat to our democracy, they behave as if they have another passport. But the rest of us who have only one passport, the green passport, this democracy has come to stay. We must contribute our own quota to deepen it by obeying the rules of the game.
“It is now a fact of history that PDP tried to deepen the culture of do-or-die politics. It is a fact that PDP is a beneficiary of electoral fraud year-in-year out and it became part of their sing song over time to rig them out and let them go to court,” Oshiomhole noted.
According to the APC National Chairman, the law of the land stipulates that to win the governorship seat of a state, the candidate must not only score the highest vote in that election but must necessarily have two-third of local government areas to qualify to be declared the winner.
He reasoned that Imo state has 27 local government areas and Ihedioha scored votes only in 12 and two-third of 27 is 18, leaving a huge deficit of six local government areas which Ihedioha or any other person must necessarily have to be able to be declared the winner of a governorship election.
While accusing INEC of illegally declaring the PDP candidate winner of Imo gubernatorial polls, Oshiomhole said: “The collation officer, a professor of mathematics, curiously did not know that 12 was not two-third of 27 local government areas and proceeded to unlawfully declare Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo state”.
“In a society that is committed to fairness and rule of law, that returning officer ought not only to be dismissed; he ought to have reported himself to the security how he arrived at the decision to declare Emeka Ihedioha as governor.
“It has been the philosophy of PDP, particularly from 2003 after the 1999 elections, to arrogantly ask their agents or activists and manipulate INEC to add vote and tell the loser who would have been the winner to go to court and challenge if he is not ready to accept the fraud perpetrated between INEC and PDP.
“That exactly what they did in the case of Imo and I think that was the height of irresponsibility on the part of INEC. Now that it has been established that the Professor went out of boundaries and indulged in this reckless pronouncement that has led us to this situation that we are in, he cannot enjoy the comfort of his zone while he has laid foundation that all kinds of political vultures are trying to feast on”.
On the decisions of Imo State Governorship Election Tribunal and Appeal Court that upheld the victory of Ihedioha, the APC leader said: “Once you lie, you will need more lies to cover the first lie. Truth be told; once they conveniently ignored these 388 polling unit, they also ignored the accredited voters in those units.
“In fact, between the returning officer and INEC as well as the Judges at the tribunal and the majority of the judges at the court of appeal level, they excised these 388 units as if they are not part of Imo state. Unless they amend the constitution and redraw the map of Imo state and exclude the people that voted in these units, I believe that those judges have more questions to answer particularly”.
James Kwen, Abuja
