Reason Why Supreme Court dismissed Ihediola application for review

Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state no longer has any legal obstacle ahead that can threaten his status as the number one citizen of the state: the Supreme Court has dismissed the application filed by Emeka Ihedioha challenging his declaration.

Ihedioha and the PDP’s efforts to reclaim Imo state

On Tuesday, January 14, the Supreme Court delivered a verdict on the Imo state governorship election that left many Nigerians shocked.

Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who had come fourth in the election, according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was declared as the winner of the election by the apex court.

The new governor of Imo state had earlier lost his petition at the tribunal and the Court of Appeal before he got a favourable verdict where it matters most; the Supreme Court.

The apex court held that the appeal court erred in law by dismissing Uzodinma’s appeal and excluding votes from 388 polling units from the total scores at the poll.

It affirmed that the votes from the 388 polling units were illegally excluded by INEC.

Thus, after ordering the electoral body to include the unlawfully removed votes in the final result, Uzodinma rose from behind to get more votes than Ihedioha and was subsequently declared the winner.

Why Ihedioha, PDP wanted the Supreme Court to reverse the verdict

In a statement on Wednesday, February 26, the PDP explained that it was seeking a review and reversal of the judgement which sacked Ihedioha because it contains “obvious mistakes”.

The opposition party added that the judgement was “threatening the stability of our nation”.