NewStats: 3,259,811 , 8,170,937 topics. Date: Monday, 26 May 2025 at 04:41 AM c703j

Why Supreme Court sacked Ihedioha, declared APC’s Uzodinma winner in Imo

The Supreme Court on Monday nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Imo State.

The apex court declared Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 9 governorship election in the state.

In the unanimous judgement of the seven-member , read by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the apex court agreed that results in 388 polling units were unlawfully excluded during the collation of the final governorship election result in Imo State.

Justice Kekere-Ekun said with the results from the 388 polling units added, Mr Uzodinma polled a majority of the lawful votes and ought to have been declared the winner of the election by the independent national electoral commission, INEC.

Consequently, she voided and set aside the declaration of Mr lhedioha as the winner of the 2019 governorship election.

The court ordered that the certificate of return wrongly or unlawfully issued to Mr lhedioha be immediately withdrawn by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and a fresh one be issued to Mr Uzodinma as the elected governor.

“Vote due to the appellant Senator Hope Uzodinma and the APC from 388 Polling Units were wrongly excluded from scores ascribed to the appellant(to them).

“It is thereby ordered that the appellant votes from 388 Polling Units unlawfully excluded from the appellant vote declared shall be added and that the first respondent, Emeka Ihedioha, was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the said election.”

“His return as the elected governor of Imo State is hereby declared null and void and accordingly set aside

“It is hereby declared that the first appellant (Mr Uzodinma) holds the majority of lawful votes cast at the governorship election held in Imo State on March 9, 2019.”

The judge said Mr Uzodinma has satisfied the mandatory constitutional requirement.

“It is hereby declared that first appellant, Senator Hope Uzodinma is the winner of the governorship of Imo State held on March 9, 2019.

“The certificate issued to the first defendant (Mr Ihedioha) is hereby withdrawn.

“It is hereby ordered that the certificate of return shall be issued to the first appellant, Senator Hope Uzodinma, forthwith and he should be sworn in as the governor of Imo State,” she ruled.

Lower court’s earlier decision
The Court of Appeal on November 19 had affirmed the victory of Mr Ihedioha as the governor of Imo State.

A five-member of the court led by Oyebisi Omoleye delivered the judgement following the appeals filed by the Action Alliance, All Progressive Grand Alliance and the All Progressives Congress challenging the election of the governor.

The appellants had argued that Mr Ihedioha did not obtain the constitutionally required one-quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state, as provided under Section 179 of the Constitution.

The appellants, therefore, asked the court to set aside the decision of the election petition tribunal and declare them the winner of the election or in the alternative order a rerun.

The Three Appeals
The three appeals filed against the judgment of the Imo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld the election of Mr Ihedioha, include that of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and its candidate, Ifeanyi Ararume; Action Alliance (AA) and its candidate, Uche Nwosu and that of the APC and its candidate, Mr Uzodinma.

The different appellants asked the Court of Appeal to void the election of Mr Ihedioha on grounds that he did not obtain the constitutional one-quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state, in line with Section 179 of the Constitution.

In their various submissions by their counsel, they asked the court to set aside the decision of the tribunal and declare them the winner of the March 9 governorship election or in the alternative order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election into the office of Governor of Imo State.

The three-member of the tribunal had in a unanimous decision delivered on September 21 held that Mr Ihedioha was lawfully declared the winner of the governorship election by INEC.

The led by Justice Malami Dongondaji had in the judgment dismissed Messrs Ararume, Nwosu and Uzodinma’s petitions for lacking in merit on the grounds that they failed to prove the allegations made in their petitions.

Apart from claims that Mr Ihedioha did not obtain the constitutional one-quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state, in line with the provisions of the law, the petitioners had also alleged substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act and Guidelines, including other irregularities.

But the tribunal in its judgement held that the case of the petitioners was unmeritorious because they failed to call relevant witnesses and that evidence of witnesses called were based on hearsay.

The tribunal, in addition, rejected documents tendered by the petitioners in of their claims on the grounds that those who led evidence in the documents were not the makers of the documents.

In his appeal, Mr Ararume urged the appellate court to upturn the decision of the tribunal on the grounds that the lower court erred in law when it arrived at the decision that his case and that of his party lacked merit and accordingly dismissed it.

The appeal which was predicated on 22 grounds was argued by his lead lawyer, Awal Kalu, while that of Mr Nwosu and AA, was argued by Niyi Akintola. That of Mr Uzodinma and APC was argued by Damian Dodo.

They all urged the to allow the appeal and grant all the relief sought by the appellants.

However, lead counsel to Mr Ihedioha and the PDP, Onyechi Ikpeazu and Kaham Ejelam respectively, urged the court to dismiss the appeals for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

In a U-turn on Tuesday, Mr Nwosu withdrew his appeal, through his lawyer, Solomon Umoh.

He withdrew the appeal based on a December 20 Supreme Court ruling that Mr Nwosu was not a validly nominated candidate for the election.

The respondents in the matter, including Mr Ihedioha and the PDP, did not object to the application of Mr Nwosu to withdraw his appeal before the apex court.

Consequently, the court dismissed Mr Nwosu’s appeal.

https://www.timesng.com/news/headlines/372652-why-supreme-court-sacked-ihedioha-declared-apcs-uzodinma-winner-in-imo.html

if it was pdp that had the 318 polling booths discounted , would the supreme court had awarded them the electoral victory or would they have delcared the unawarded votes null and void

kettykings:
if it was pdp that had the 318 polling booths discounted , would the supreme court had awarded them the electoral victory or would they have delcared the unawarded votes null and void

Are you talking about the same supreme court that handed over Zamfara to PDP?

Imo: Why Supreme Court sacked Ihedioha, declared Uzodinma winner

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/01/imo-why-supreme-court-sacked-ihedioha-declared-uzodinma-winner/

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, sacked governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo state, even as it declared Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressive Congress, APC, as the valid winner of the governorship election that held in the state on March 9, 2019. The apex court, in a unanimous judgement by a seven-man of justices that was led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, held that Ihedioha who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes.

The Supreme Court, therefore, ordered the immediate withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was issued to Ihedioha by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. It ordered that a fresh Certificate of Return should be issued to Uzodinma forthwith, adding that he should be sworn in immediately as the governor of Imo state The lead judgement was delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, while other of the concurred.

The apex court said it was satisfied that the lower tribunal wrongly evaluated Uzodinma’s case, when it failed to countenance a proof of evidence that was brought before it by a police officer that testified before it as the PW-54. It held that records before it proved that election results from 388 polling units were unlawfully excluded from the overall collated results.

It noted that results from the cancelled polling units amounted to 213, 295 votes, adding that Ihedioha was returned elected, based on wrong computation of results. According to the apex court, finding by both the tribunal and the appellate court to the effect that Uzodinma did not prove his case, “was as a result of misapprehension of the case of the appellant”. “There is merit in this appeal, it is hereby allowed.

Majority judgement of the lower court affirming the election of the 2nd Respondent is hereby set-aside”, Justice Kekere-Ekun held.

She further directed the addition of all the unlawfully cancelled votes that were due to the appellant, declaring that Ihedioha was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast. “His election is declared null and void and is hereby set-aside”.

The court further held that Uzodinma satisfied the statutorily required spread. Aside the CJN, other of the that concurred with the lead verdict were Justices Sylvester Ngwuta, Kayode Ariwola, Uwani Abba Ajji and Amiru Sanusi.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/01/imo-why-supreme-court-sacked-ihedioha-declared-uzodinma-winner/

If you agree with the supreme court judgment then you have to believe that INEC is a completely incompetent organisation

How can over 200,000 votes be overlooked? How is that possible?

Just when most Igbos were happy that the evil party called APC was finally out of Imo state, they creep back in

Was it only Hope that recorded votes from the cancelled 318 polling units? As in no other parties got a single vote from the 318 PUs? We need to know where the PUs are situated

hmmm

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The Independence of the judiciary is right in the pocket of the executive as long as Buhari rules.

The judiciary under this APC government is a complete nuisance.So only Uzodinma have such a magnitude of votes from that area?

ihedioha should console himself and vacate the position hope is coming... there's hope for the good people of imo state. mbaka

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Servicing of Generating set, Repairs.
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Call the number on my signature.

Stop with the lies please. It is quite frustrating how utterly helpless we are in these cases. Letting a group control us all is tantamount to being slaves in this modern era. It is really disconcerting.

A lot of events had occurred before this present state. These events "were allowed" to take place even though it was Anti-APC.

We, the masses were belated believing that our votes and choice were finally being respected despite the antics of Buhari and Co... We "were allowed" to think that we mattered... not knowing that it was all just a dirty trick.

They KNEW that it will eventually come to this. They plotted and perhaps also recruited Mbaka to make us think that this was meant to be. They played us all like a fiddle and that is what hurts. The deception and the fact they they won.

gidgiddy:
If you agree with the supreme court judgment then you have to believe that INEC is a completely incompetent organisation

How can over 200,000 votes be overlooked? How is that possible?

Just when most Igbos were happy that the evil party called APC was finally out of Imo state, they creep back in

I would beg the igbos to look beyond political parties instead they should hold their leaders able same way they did to ike Ekweremadu

Ipob terrorists be like uzodinma is not one of us,he is of Fulani extraction. Awon werey!

Some people go die this night due to HBP.

Fvck Buhari
Fvck Atiku
Fvck APC
Fvck PDP
Fvck Inyamiri, Afonja and Aboki

Fvck 9ja itself

Here is a better picture

NIGERIA!!!

Father Maka saw it coming, hehehe!

Can they appeal the supreme court judgement cos this matter serious
We sell Smart TVs and home appliances

Who does not know that this is a big sham

This is gonna be the topic of the week. There is much stories for the media.

Father Mbaka.. You saw it coming

Imo state Amaka!

This judgment is the one you call america wonder judgment

Yahoo-yahoo judgment.

Mbaka is fully aligned with satan.

Story.

THE JUSTICE IS EVEN YORUBA.


I GUESS ALL THE TALK OF ABIOLA DEMOCRACY DAY IS HOT AIR AFTERALL.


I WAS EXPECTING HIM TO BE A FULANI JUSTICE.