Imo: Why Uzodinma Defeated Ihedioha At Supreme Court – Oshiomhole

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has given reasons why Hope Uzodinma defeated Emeka Ihedioha at the Supreme Court.

Naija News recalls that the Supreme Court headed by Justice Tanko Muhammad has sacked the incumbent, Governor Emeka Ihedioha from office.

The seven-man panel of the apex court in a unanimous decision held that Ihedioha did not win the majority of votes cast at the March 9 governorship election.

In the Judgment delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the court accordingly ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Ihedioha and issue a fresh Certificate of Return to the candidate of the APC on grounds that he won the majority of lawful votes cast at the election.

The court held that the lower courts erred in law when it rejected evidence tendered before them to the extent that votes from 388 polling units were not credited to the APC and Uzodinma

Speaking to newsmen over the weekend, Oshiomhole said the APC won based on facts available to the court and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to the APC chairman, Ihedioha never met the required one-quarter vote in two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state.

He said: “PDP is not only reckless, they believe it is their birthright to benefit from electoral fraud. Courts are bound to interpret laws according to the constitution. No court has the power to bend the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended.

“As far as we know, Imo has 27 local government, and Emeka Ihedioha scored two-thirds of the votes in 12 LGs. Two-third of 27 is eighteen. So you have a huge deficit of six LGAs which Ihedioha or anybody else must necessarily have to be declared a winner of a governorship election,” the APC chairman explained as he condemned the state’s Returning Officer, Francis Otunta, for “unlawfully declaring Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo State.”

Oshiomhole stated that the votes added by the Supreme Court were cast at Uzodinma’s senatorial district, Orlu (Imo West), where he was twice elected as a senator.

“You are at liberty to ask for those documents, they are not classified. Every political party has the right to inspect election materials but neither did Emeka Ihedioha’s lawyer nor PDP’s lawyer questioned the validity of the votes that were cast in this 388 PUs because they were duly signed not only by APC agents, but by the polling units’ presiding officers as required by the law, as well as other political parties, including the PDP.

“However, because PDP has a reputation for manipulating system, to our shock, the lower court conveniently overlooked these 388 units and proceeded to deal with other units. They made no comments, nobody nullified those units,” Oshiomhole said.