Oshiomhole: PDP felt they could impose Ihedioha on Imo

Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC), has described the supreme court verdict on the Imo governorship election as refreshing.

On Tuesday, the supreme court dismissed the application of Emeka Ihedioha, former governor of the state, seeking a review of the judgement which sacked him.

The apex court had nullified Ihedioha’s victory in the 2019 election and declared Hope Uzodinma, his APC rival, winner of the election.

Ihedioha had approached the court, demanding that the judgement should be reviewed but the court dismissed the application, saying its ruling was final.

Oshiomhole, who spoke to journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, said compared to the Bayelsa judgement, the decision from the court was predictable and that the court is just being consistent with the position it took in previous cases.

He said the people of the state can now relax and work with Uzodinma, adding that all hands are on deck to fill up the gaps so that the state will witness sustainable growth and development.

“I think is refreshing and quite predictable in the sense that from the attitude of the supreme court last week on Bayelsa that nothing was wrong with the candidate, the lower court did not disqualify the candidate, the issue of the candidate was not before the supreme court and yet the supreme court made a decision.

“We know that Ihedioha did not have the required number and that is a fact that nobody has ever disputed. How anybody thought he can impose someone who did not meet the spread is only known to PDP.

“Because, they specialise in rigging and they see rigging as their birth right. So I think what the supreme court has done today is just to reaffirm that they are supreme and whatever they did the last time was on the basis of what was before them.

“They did not make mistakes, there are no gaps, no ambiguity and therefore there was no basis to re-approach them to seat on the appeal in their own judgement.  We are happy and we thank God that the whole litigation process has come to an end.”

On the argument that the votes that made Uzodinma win the election were more than the valid registered votes, Oshiomhole said that was a propaganda by the PDP .

He said what Nigerians should be concerned about is that the law should be amended in such a way that nobody will be imposed on the electorate by the court.

“You have made an assumption which is not supported by fact, mainly by the speculation and the roadside talks by some elements in PDP, suggesting that there was over-voting if you add the votes that were ignored,” he said.

“What I think that we must discuss as a people who believe in democracy, is that the law should be amended, such that no matter what happens, when people have voted, they cannot be dismissed as ‘April Fool’.

“Court should not impose. If the court finds out that the preferred candidate did not win, for me the only democratic option, legal option will be to repeat the exercise.”