Supreme Court Sacks Ihedioha, Declares Uzodinma Governor Of Imo State

The Supreme court has nullified the victory of Emeka Ihedioha and has declared Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) validly elected Governor of Imo state.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision by the 7-man panel delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun ruled that Uzodinma scored the highest number of votes in the election and that INEC erred in unlawfully excluding votes for the APC candidate in 318 polling units.

The court therefore added the votes and declared him winner whilst directing INEC to present him a Certificate of Return.

This was as the candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Imo State, Uche Nwosu, withdrew his second appeal filed against the election of Governor Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the Supreme Court.

According to his counsel, Mr. Solomon Umoh (SAN), the withdrawal on Tuesday is based on the judgment of the apex court delivered on the 20th of December 2019.

The apex court canceled out the candidature of Mr. Nwosu under the flagship of the Action Alliance (AA) over the double nomination.

Mr Nwosu had won the nomination to contest under the All Progressives Congress (APC), but the internal wrangling within the ruling party made it impossible for him to be presented as the party’s candidate, which necessitated his defection to AA at the last minute.

The Supreme Court held that by virtue of Nwosu’s double candidature and in line with the clear provisions of the Electoral Act, he was bound to be disqualified from the election and affirmed the judgments of the High Court and the Court of Appeal.