By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Mixed reactions continue to trail the Supreme Court judgement that sacked Emeka Ihedioha as Imo State governor. The Court of Nigeria on January 24, 2020 in a unanimous decision by a panel of seven judges, declared the gubernatorial candidate for the All Progressive Party (APC), Senator Hope Uzodinma the winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Imo State.
With this development, Ihedioha ceased to be governor. Since the declaration by the Supreme Court, there have been reactions by Nigerians, particularly, lawyers, politicians and civil society leaders on the issue.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mike Ozekhome, for instance, remarked that though the ruling of the Supreme Court was final, legal experts and analysts must critically discuss the judgment to ascertain whether the court was right. He said, “The Supreme Court is final. As the Apex Court itself once said in Adegoke Motors Case, the Supreme Court is final in the sense of real finality.
“It is final not because it is infallible; it is infallible because it is final”.
Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Kenneth Ikonne, blamed Ihedioha’s legal/defence team for his fate. He argued that the fatal error made by Ihedioha’s legal team was in not filing a cross petition fiercely challenging the integrity of the suspect polling units’ results upon which Uzodinma was relying, and praying the election tribunal to formally nullify the said results.
“Without a cross petition, none of the grounds under Section 138 (1) of the Electoral Act for questioning the elections conducted in those polling units in which Uzodinma “won” could have been competently raised by Ihedioha in his defence to Uzodinma’s petition.
Citing the case of Atiku Abubakar Vs Buhari, the senior Lawyer said; “In the recent Court of Appeal decision in Atiku Abubakar V. Buhari, the Court of Appeal invoked the principle in dismissing Buhari’s contention that Atiku Abubakar was born in Cameroun to parents who originally were Camerounians, and thus disqualified from contesting the election. Dismissing the contention, the Court of Appeal held that the issue was incompetent, since Buhari did not file a cross petition.
“Tragically, Ihedioha’s legal team forgot to include the pivotal cross petition. And in the absence of a cross petition, the Supreme Court was right in law, painfully though it may seem, to rely on the presumption of regularity and correctness enshrined by both the Electoral Act and Evidence Act in favour of the said results, and to reckon with them and add them up to the final result, since Ihedioha’s legal team had woefully failed to effectively attack the results and rebut that presumption”, he asserts.
Ikonne posits that for the Supreme Court, it was the legally correct conclusion to come to, having found that INEC had no power in law to exclude polling units results duly affirmed by the various polling units presiding officers.
Also in his reaction, Awa Kalu (SAN), lead defence counsel to the jailed former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu who said he was at the Apex Court when the judgement was delivered, explained to TheNiche issues and circumstances that formed the unanimous decision of the judges in declaring Senator Hope Uzodinma as the winner of March 9, 2019 gubernatorial election in Imo State.
According to him, three parties Uche Nwosu, Ifeanyi Ararume and Hope Uzodinma filed appeal against the election of Ihedioha on different grounds. Nwosu later withdrew his appeal because the Supreme Court disqualified his candidature as flagbearer of Action Alliance on the ground that he had no locus standi to contest on the platform of the party, having earlier contested for the position in the primaries of APC.
On the other hand Ararume wanted outright cancellation of the election and asked for a re-run, arguing that Ihedioha did not have the geographical spread of the votes across the state. But Hope Uzodinma contended that the votes he won were not counted. He contended that his votes should count. The Supreme Court upheld his contention and after adding the figures, he was declared winner.
Former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential elections, Atiku Abubakar is not left out in the reactions.
He said, “With regards to the judgment of the Supreme Court, which nullified the election of Ihedioha, as Governor of the State of Imo, I can only say that since the Supreme Court is final, we must accept its judgement, however unexpected and unpalatable it may be. The Rule of law must guide our paths even if logic sheds light on a different path”
A human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, commended the Apex Court for dealing with the matter on technicality as he expressed that same should be used for subsequent cases. According to Effiong, “The judgment is actually unprecedented because this is the first time Supreme Court has nullified an election in an election petition to remove someone declared by INEC.
“The previous instances were pre-election matter, matters relating to political parties or who was the candidate of the party. I found it particularly interesting that we are now seeing what is clearly a departure from precedence.
“I have been particularly observant of the trend in the Supreme Court where it seems that every person that is declared by INEC, the Supreme Court was almost certain to affirm such election, so this judgment was a departure from the norm”, he said.
Executive Director of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) Comrade Ibuchukwu Ezike, in reaction, stressed that a lot of issues affecting the judiciary vis-a-vis the Supreme Court have left many Nigerians disappointed. He pointed out that the International Community is watching and the Chief Justice of Nigeria in accomplishing his assignment.
According to him, the “Judiciary and the justices have caused the citizens to lose hope. In any case, we have not gotten the nitty gritty of the judgement. We have to get issues and diagnose it before taking a position. The judicial system in the country is no longer the hope of the common man”.
Former Second Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Monday Ubani said that he expected the court to declare a re-run and not outright declaration of Uzodinma as winner.
In his words, “This is the first time Supreme Court would upturn a gubernatorial election in Nigeria. What I had expected was a re-run of the election by both parties but the Supreme Court in its wisdom has awarded victory to Uzodinma and this means there is something they have seen that made them reach the particular decision”.
Another Lawyer and member of Ihedioha legal team, Chidi Henry Nwuke, expressed reservations on the judgement. “Definitely I have reservations about the soundness of the judgment. However, as a lawyer, I know that the decision of the Supreme Court is final. As Oputa JSC of blessed memory once said, the Justices of the Supreme Court are not final because they are infallible, rather they are infallible because they are final by law. So no matter the reservations one may have about the judgment, the final court of the land has spoken”, he said.
On his own, Imo State- based lawyer, Ogemdi Ezeonye simply said, “The said judgement can be described as a judicial coup, and it’s unacceptable to the Imolites (Imo citizens)’
Lagos based human rights lawyer, Ayo Ademiluyi said, “It (the judgement) emphasizes the power of the judiciary in determining the fate of our political elite”.
