The National President, Association for Public Policy Analysis, Chief, Comrade Princewill Okorie has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola to ensure that pending motions pertaining to the 2019 Imo State governorship election are determined before the forthcoming November 11, election in the state.
Comrade Okorie’s appeal is coming on the heels of alleged moves by some individuals and politicians to scuttle hearing of pending motions in respect of the Supreme Court judgment, that pronounced Senator Hope Uzodimma, winner of the 2019 governorship election in Imo State.
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The court had fixed October 31, 2023, to hear two separate appeals filed since 2020 seeking to know the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 election.
The two appeals are fallouts of the two judgments delivered by the court in late 2019 and early 2020 in which issues of authenticity of the APC gubernatorial candidate became thorny.
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.
“It is on record that there were two Supreme Court judgments of December 20th 2019 (SC/1384/ 2019) and January 14th 2020 (SC/462/2019).
“The two judgments raised fundamental issues affecting politics in Imo State and yet to be resolved by the Supreme Court in the past three years,” he said.
Not happy with how Uzodinma 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.
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.
In a statement on Sunday, Comrade Okorie appealed to the Supreme Court to make sure that the October 31, date fixed for hearing of the motions is strictly adhered to.
“May we in the name of the Almighty God plead with the Chief Justice of Nigeria to jettison any pressure from any quarters that will truncate the hearing of this matter on 31st October 2023 as he has approved to enhance its expenditious disposal before the November 11th Governorship election in Imo State.
“Putting the 2019 Governorship election judicial struggle to rest before the next election 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 opportunity to move on with their lives.
“Finally, it is important to remind the Chief Justice of Nigeria that shifting the date of these 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 it’s 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” Okorie stated.
As an association whose mission is based on upholding public interest in governance, Okorie said they have watched with consternation, the political development that arose as a result of the 2019 Governorship election in Imo State in which the Supreme Court removed Honourable Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party and Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress was installed as the Governor of Imo State.
They insisted that all legal issues surrounding the emergence of Uzodimma as Governor should be addressed once and for all before the November gubernatorial election in the state. END.
