The Supreme Court will on Monday hear an application filed by Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asking it to review its judgement of January 14, which sacked him as Imo governor and replaced him with Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ihedioha was declared winner of the March 9, 2019, election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but his election was overturned by apex court in a unanimous judgment of the seven-member panel, read by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, that results in 388 polling units were unlawfully excluded during the collation of the final governorship election result in Imo State.
Kekere-Ekun held that with the results from the 388 polling units added, Uzodinma polled a majority of the lawful votes and ought to have been declared the winner of the election by the poll commission.
Consequently, the court voided and set aside the declaration of lhedioha as the winner of the 2019 governorship election in the South-east state.
Dissatisfied with the apex court’s decision, Ihedioha and the PDP in their application filed through their lawyer, Kanu Agabi, said Uzodinma obtained the judgement by deceit.
The former Governor noted that the Justices of the apex court were misled in giving that judgment.
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In the application brought pursuant to Section 6 (6) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act 2004, Ihedioha and the PDP therefore asked that the decision be set aside.
In a 19-paragraph affidavit filed in response to Ihedioha’s application, Uzodinma and the APC said the 60 days allowed for the apex court by the constitution has since elapsed.
“The undisputed facts relating to the respondents/applicants’ motion hereinafter referred to as “the motion” are to the effect that the judgment of the Court of Appeal was delivered on 21st September 2019, while the one sought to be set aside, was delivered on 14th January 2020. Clearly, the 60 days allowed by Section 285(7) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) for this Hon. Court to hear and determine an appeal from the Court of Appeal in an election matter, lapsed on January 17, 2020. The motion to set aside was filed on February 5, 2020, 19 days after the time allowed by the Constitution.
“It is now a settled law that the 60 days’ time limit to determine and conclude litigation on election matters is sacrosanct and cannot be extended by any guise,” they stated, in the counter-affidavit filed on their behalf by their lawyer, Damian Dodo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
In the counter-affidavit deposed to by Mathew Mola, the two respondents said the Supreme Court “is not in the habit of sitting on appeal over its own judgment as being demanded by Ihedioha.”