The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, dismissed an application brought forward aiming to sack Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma from office.
A seven-man panel of the court, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, dismissed the application which rested on the premise that he was not validly nominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the election that led to his first tenure in 2019.
The application further sought to invalidate the number of years Governor Uzodinma spent in office.
Though the appeal was initially brought before the apex court by the candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) Uche Nwosu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Emeka Ihedioha applied to be joined as interested parties in the matter.
The PDP urged the Supreme Court to hold that “both the AA and APC did not sponsor and/or field any candidate for the governorship election held in Imo State on March 9, 2019 because of the double nomination of the appellant/respondent by the two political parties aforesaid and his subsequent disqualification as their gubernatorial candidate, as found by this honourable court in its judgement.”
However, the apex court held that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, which it described as frivolous and highly vexatious before proceeding to award a personal cost of forty million naira the legal to the PDP and Ihedioha,Mike Ozehkome (SAN).
In an affidavit it filed in support of the application, which was deposed to by a legal practitioner, Adedamola Farokun, PDP, averred: “The third respondent/applicant (PDP) is neither in any way seeking a review of the valid, subsisting, and well considered judgement of this court delivered in this appeal in 2019, nor seeking a review of the judgement of this court delivered on January 14, 2020 in SC/462/2019, but humbly seeking that this court give effect to its judgement delivered on December 20, 2019.
“That this court has the constitutional, inherent powers, and jurisdiction to grant the reliefs sought and give effect to its judgement.”
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