Bayelsa judgement won’t suffice for Imo illegality – PDP

By Lateef Ibrahim

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the Supreme Court judgement on Bayelsa state governorship election will not change the course of its demand that the Court rectifies the ‘manifest and widely rejected mistakes contained in its judgment on the Imo state governorship election.
The party said this in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan in Abuja.
The party insisted that the Supreme Court will be redeeming its image and restoring public confidence on its infallibility by reviewing the Imo verdict, given the manifold unjustifiable mistakes contained in that judgment.
The PDP restated that the miscarriage of justice in the Imo state judgment is glaring given the established fact that the panel assumed the roles of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), by “recognizing the votes concocted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Hope Uzodimma”, which ended up increasing the total number of votes in the election to 950,952, over and above the INEC certified total accredited votes of 823,743.
The statement reads, “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) receives the judgment of the Supreme Court restoring its mandate in the Bayelsa state governorship election but insists that the apex Court must right the wrongs in the Imo state governorship election judgment.
“The party says the Bayelsa judgment will not change the course of its demand that the Supreme Court rectifies the manifest and widely rejected mistakes contained in its judgment on the Imo state governorship election.
“Our party insists that the Supreme Court will be redeeming its image and restoring public confidence on its infallibility by reviewing the Imo verdict given the manifold unjustifiable mistakes contained in that judgment.
“The PDP restates that the miscarriage of justice in the Imo state judgment is glaring given the established fact that the panel assumed the roles of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), by recognizing the votes concocted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Hope Uzodimma, which ended up increasing the total number of votes in the election to 950,952, over and above the INEC certified total accredited votes of 823,743.
“In another miscarriage of justice, the Supreme Court panel named Senator Uzodimma/APC as winner whereas it had on December 20, 2019 ruled that Uche Nwosu, and not Senator Uzodimma, won the APC governorship primary.
“The Supreme Court had also disqualified Uche Nwosu from the election for having acquired the governorship ticket of two political parties; the APC and the Action Alliance (AA), an aberration to the electoral laws.
“Our party holds that a judicial review on Imo governorship election has become inevitable because by these earlier rulings of the Supreme Court, not only is Sen. Uzodimma not a candidate, the judgments also nullified all the votes that could have been accruable to APC and AA and their candidate, Uche Nwosu, in the election, leaving the PDP candidate, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, as the incontestable winner of the election”, it said.
The PDP congratulated the people of Bayelsa state, the governor-elect, Senator Douye Diri and his deputy governor-elect, Lawrence Ewrujakpor, as their mandate has been restored.