Group wants new panel for Imo Guber appeal review

By Ochiaka Ugwu

Interest groups, under the auspicious of Alliance of Civil Societies have called for a new panel for the review of Imo State gubernatorial election Supreme Court judgment which was to be heard on Tuesday.
The alliance in a Press briefing in Abuja yesterday on the Imo Governorship review appeal with theme, “Ending Judicial Opprobrium and Securing Sanctity” noted Court owes Imolites and Nigerians in general the clarity as to what happened to the votes of the PDP and other parties in the 388 units tendered by the APC and its candidate.
Igho Akeregha, Livinus Ibiang and Ugochuckwu Hanks-Ezekiel who spoke on the behalf of the alliance stated that the Court of Appeal had earlier dismissed the petition of Senator Hope Uzodinma as incompetent and struck it out saying that Supreme Court did not consider the appeal of Hope Uzodinma on this point and so the judgment of the Court of Appeal dismissing the petition still stands or subsists.
They said there was no basis for the Supreme Court to pronounce on the Appeal and declare Hope Uzodinma, elected.
They held that the judgment was delivered without jurisdiction in that by virtue of S.140(2) of the Electoral Act, once the Court says that the election was invalid, the only possible judgement the Court is allowed to give is a nullification of the election, and not to declare Hope Uzodinma, winner.
They informed that there was no proof before the Court nor did the Supreme Court state how it arrived at the declaration that Hope Uzodinma met the constitutionally required geographical spread.
“To meet this requirement, the Supreme Court ought to state the scores and percentages of all the 70 candidates that contested the election, Local Government by Local Government. This was not done by the Supreme Court and therefore had no basis and jurisdiction to declare Hope Uzodinma winner of the election.”