UPDATED: Supreme Court Strikes Out Ihedioha’s Application, Upholds Uzodimna As Imo Gov

The Supreme Court has struck out the application filed by Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asking the apex court to reverse his removal as Imo State governor.

The court also affirmed Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Imo.

A seven-man panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, passed the judgement on Tuesday, following a “Set-Aside Judgment” application filed by Ihedioha through his counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN).

One of the judges on the panel had however disagreed with the majority judgement.

Damian Dodo (SAN) represented Uzodimna and the APC while Taminu Inuwa represented the third respondent, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the judgement read out by Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the panel said the apex court could not review its judgement except to adjust clerical mistakes.

“The court has no power to review its judgement except to correct error, clerical mistakes,” said Ariwoola.

According to the judgement, once the Supreme court has made a judgement, it is final.

“It is settled law that this court has no power to alter its judgement.

“It is clear that the application is asking the court to alter its judgement,” Ariola said, adding that the court cannot do so.

“Without a doubt, this application is considered lacking in merit,” he declared.

The panel also said they would not award any cost to Ihedioha’s counsel.

But one of the members of the panel, Nwaeze Centus, disagreed with the judgement, saying Uzodinma could not have been declared the winner of the Imo governorship election.

He said Supreme Courts in other parts of the world usually review its own judgment, citing the United Kingdom and United States.

He said Dodo’s request to dismiss Ihedioha’s application without arguing about it was wrong.

He said that the judgement will keep hunting them.

Agabi expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision, while Dodo said that the judgement was within the law.

The PDP argued during the review that the nullification of Ihedioha’s election in favor of Uzodimna was flawed as the latter (Uzondinma) did not have the required constitutional spread in the election.

The party had also argued that Uzodinma and his party, the APC, had described the state’s governorship election as severely marred by malpractices, and wondered how the same party would be declared as winner of the poll.

But Uzodinma’s counsel, Dodo, told the court to dismiss the applications for being incompetent and for lack of merit, adding that the court could not seat on appeal in its judgment.