Nwosu asks Ihedioha to withdraw Supreme Court case against Uzodinma

The 2019 governorship candidate of the Action Alliance in Imo State, Uche Nwosu, has urged the immediate past governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha, to withdraw his application at the Supreme Court seeking for the review of the January 14 apex court verdict which declared Hope Uzodinma as the governor of the state.

Nwosu said for the sake of the state, Ihedioha should join hands with the governor to move the state forward.

The former AA governorship candidate said the interest of the state should override personal and selfish interests.

He said, “On December 20, 2019, the Supreme Court gave a judgment disqualifying me as a candidate for the March 9, 2019 governorship election, I made it clear that I had accepted that judgment as final, and declared my readiness to lend my support to any of my brothers who would be favoured by the final judgement of the Supreme Court pertaining to the governorship election petition.

“My team of lawyers actually advised me that the judgment was erroneous, especially on the basis of being statute-barred, having been filed many days after the 14 days window allowed for pre-election matters to be instituted. Apart from the need to quell the tension in the state, I also have a lot of respect for the Nigerian judiciary and didn’t want anything that would embarrass the revered high temple of justice. Supreme Court decisions are and should remain terminus ad quem.

“It is on this note therefore, that I remind my dear brother, Emeka Ihedioha, and all members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, to reconsider their decision to seek an endless litigation and media war against our dear state and join hands with Governor Hope Uzodimma, to move our dear state forward.”

Meanwhile, the Kabiru Marafa-led faction of the All Progressives Congress in Zamfara State has urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the application filed by the party before it for the review of the May 24, 2019 judgment which nullified the party’s victories in the 2019 general elections held in the state.

The group, through their lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), argued that there was no law or constitutional provisions that allowed the Supreme Court to review its judgment.

The application for judgment review was filed before the apex court by the APC and its 1st National Vice-Chairman of the APC (North-West Zone), Inuwa Abdulkadir.

A former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, leads a faction of members of the party whose victories in the 2019 general elections were nullified by the apex court’s judgment.

The APC, through its lawyer, Chief Robert Clarke (SAN), had on November 27, 2019, filed an application before the apex court praying for a review of the judgment and an order for fresh elections to allow the party to field candidates.

But Marafa, a former senator, and members of his group, filed their defence on February 14, 2019, in opposition to the application for the review of the judgment.

Ozekhome, who argued that the court lacked jurisdiction and their was no legal backing for such review stated, “We submit most respectfully that there is no constitutional or statutory provision for the review of the judgments of the Supreme Court by the same apex court.”

A five-man panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, on Tuesday fixed March 2 for the hearing of the application.