Imo Gov’ship: At last S’Court fixes Oct 31 to hear PDP, others over 2019 election conundrum

…As group pushes for resolution of pending guber suits before Nov 11

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

Even as alleged vested interests may have kept on-hold for about three years, appeals filed in 2020 seeking to know the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 election that later produced Senator Hope Uzodimma as governor.

The apex court has however, fixed October 31st for the hearing of the motions filled by the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and Action Peoples Party(APP) respectively for an effect to it’s judgment delivered on December 20, 2019, disqualifying Uche Nwosu from the Imo governorship election on the ground of double nomination,

The All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) also filed to remove Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state from office specifically on the grounds that there ought to have been a fresh election in the state after the apex court nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP.

Hearing of the suits is coming in less than a month to the scheduled governorship election in the state.

The appeals are fallouts of two judgments delivered by the court in late 2019 and early 2020 in which issues of authenticity of the APC gubernatorial candidate became controversial.

President Tinubu and Uche Nwosu

The apex court had disqualified Uche Nwosu from contesting the 2019 poll because he held double nomination of the APC and the Action Alliance (AA).

In another judgment in 2020, the Supreme Court removed Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the elected governor. It declared APC’s Hope Uzodimma as the winner of the 2019 governorship election.

Dissatisfied with how Uzodimma became the APC gubernatorial candidate, a motion on notice was filed in 2019 by the PDP and Action People’s Party (APP), praying the apex court to interpret the effect of the judgment that held Nwosu as APC’s candidate but disqualified him for having double nomination of APC and AA at the same time.

Chief Umeadi

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Philip Umeadi SAN, had filed another motion on notice to the Supreme Court for the interpretation of the judgment that sacked Nwosu and seeking enforcement of the same judgment as it relates to APC’s participation in the 2019 Imo governorship election.

Praying the apex court for permission to be joined and heard in the substantive suit that was filed on July 9, 2020, APGA, in it’s quest for fresh election in the state noted that the apex court had in a separate judgement before Ihedioha’s election was voided, declared that Uche Nwosu who came second at the governorship poll that held in 2019, had dual nominations as such should be excluded from participating in the fresh governorship election in Imo State

The apex court had held that Nwosu allowed himself to be nominated by both the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Action Alliance, AA.

Sen. Idea to Ararume, APGA candidate in the 2019 poll

APGA, whose candidate came third in the election, had while Nwosu’s appeal was pending before the Supreme Court, brought an application to be joined as an interested party in the matter.

It equally filed an application for an order, directing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct a fresh election in Imo State within 90 days.

According to the party, a fresh election was necessary since in the eyes of the law, Imo State has no duly and validly elected governor, going by two judgments of the apex court in appeals number SC/1384/2019 and SC/1462/2019.

“In the eyes of the law, the absence of a duly and validly nominated/ sponsored by a political party as a constitutional precedent, has made it imperative for INEC to conduct a fresh election in Imo State”, counsel to the applicant, Mr S. I. Nwoga submitted.

Recalling, that the apex court had in the first Appeal, held that Nwosu contested and won the primaries conducted by the APC on October 6, 2018, and his name forwarded to INEC as APC’s candidate for the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Imo State

However in the quest for fairness, a civil group, Association for Public Policy Analysis(APPA), has asked the Supreme Court to resolve all pending cases on the said 2019 Imo State governorship election before the November 11 gubernatorial poll.

National President of the association, Comrade Princewill Okorie, praised the court for fixing October 31 for the two suits, but raised an alarm over alleged plans to shift the date.

Stating that such will not only restore the confidence of the Imo people in the judiciary but promote justice and fair play as well as give parties involved in the matter the opportunity to move on with their lives.

“Finally, it is important to remind the Chief Justice of Nigeria that shifting the date of the motions that have stayed at the Supreme Court for over three years will present the Supreme Court as the institution that is not consistent with her decisions on policies, circumventing the will of justice, propelling political instability in Imo State and lacking in integrity.

“This image and perception will be very wrong in the eyes of the international community who are relying on Nigeria to champion effort towards sustainability of credible democracy in Africa.”

He asked the Court not to bow to any external pressure but to strive to hear the two pending motions and deliver rulings in one way or another to settle the political impasse in Imo State permanently.

The apex court has communicated the hearing date to the parties through a notice dated October 16, 2023, which was signed by one of its Registrars, Usman Bature.