Coalition describes s’court verdict on Ihedioha as ‘judicial coup’

A coalition under the aegis of Eminent national leaders of Nigerian Civil Society and Third Force Movement has faulted the judgement of the supreme court sacking Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo state.

In a statement signed by Olusegun Awe Obe on behalf of the coalition, the group said the judgement is a “judicial coup” and an annulment of a valid election.

Ihedioha had been declared as winner of the Imo governorship poll in 2019, but the supreme court sacked him and held that Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is the authentic winner.

The apex court ruled that Ihedioha who contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not validly elected, and that votes accruing to Uzodinma from over 300 polling units were not collated.

In the statement issued on Monday, the coalition questioned the decision of the court to declare Uzodinma the winner even though he had come fourth in the initial results announced.

“To all intents and purposes, this judgement was a premeditated judicial coup d’état and rape against democracy and the rule of law and particularly against the people of Imo State whose mandate has been transferred to a candidate that came fourth in the election, improperly,” it said.

“It is important to point out the following: All the documents tendered by Hope Uzodinma as stated earlier were tendered through the bar. Poling unit agents were called for only 28 polling units leaving 360 polling units dumped on the tribunal.

“There was no evidence showing that the contents of the 388 polling units tallied with the tabulation contained in Hope Uzodinma’s petition. There was no evidence showing that those documents produced by the police witness came from any of the 388 polling units or the contents of those documents as they were only dumped on the tribunal without more.”

It said the supreme court faulted in admitting “hearsay” as evidence without any confirmation from any eye witness.

There was also no attempt to match those documents produced by the police witness with those tendered by Hope Uzodinma and his lawyers.

“For us, the judgment constitutes nothing but an annulment of a valid election and judicial robbery of a popular mandate in a democracy.that can lead to the break down of democratic governance and the reign of civil disobedience and political anarchy in Imo State and the entire South East region of Nigeria,” the statement added.