As the debate over Tuesday’s Supreme court verdict which sacked Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP and affirmed Hope Uzodinma of the ruling All Congress Party (APC), as the duly elected governor of Imo state, continues to rage across newsrooms, social media platforms, public and private offices, homes and beer palours, a lawyer, Kenneth Ikonne, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has tried to explain to Nigerians how the apex court arrived at the judgment in an article currently circulating on Facebook.
For Nigerians, stunned by the judgment, the legal practitioner explained how Uzodinma, from the fourth position he previously occupied as per the result announced by INEC, suddenly emerged the winner following the inclusion of votes in 388 polling units that were unlawfully excluded during final collation.
He wrote, “What happened was this: during the governorship election in Imo State, apparently concocted results, perhaps not having any basis whatsoever in reality, but signed by INEC presiding officers, were turned in from more than 350 polling units, giving Hope Uzodinma of the APC an incredibly unassailable lead.”
“When those results were transmitted to the wards collation centres, the collation officers, who had no power in law to cancel or reject them, rejected the said polling units results, and refused to collate them, thereby effectively excluding them from the total tally of the governorship result that was eventually declared by the Returning Officer. In the aftermath of the said exclusion, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Governor Ihedioha the winner of the election.
“The exclusion of the results of those polling units was the fulcrum of the petition presented at the Tribunal by Hope Uzodinma.
“Ever since David Mark V. Abubakar Usman, and Doma V. INEC, the law has been settled that neither collation officers nor a returning officer, has the power in law to exclude a polling unit result duly signed by the presiding officer at the polling unit; only the election tribunal possesses the power to cancel or exclude such a result.
“So, at the point of its presentation, Senator Uzodinma’s petition was potentially viable, in spite of the apparent dubiousness of the polling units results on which it was anchored, there being a rebuttable presumption of regularity and correctness, by virtue of both the Electoral Act and Evidence Act, ensuring in favour of any result declared by a presiding officer.”
According to Ikonne, it was “backbreaking and fatal error” on the part of Mr Ihedioha’s legal team for them not to have filed “a cross petition fiercely challenging the integrity of the suspect polling units results upon which Uzodinma was relying, and praying the election tribunal to formally nullify the said results”.
As Uzodinma prepares for his swearing-in, Ihedioha and his supporters are obviously feeling sad right now.
Okorocha, the senator representing Imo West District, despite their pre-election and post-election squabble, Tuesday congratulated Uzodinma and assured him of his support.
Uzodinma’s ultimate victory is yet another interesting chapter in the unenviable history of Imo politics.
With additional report from social media platforms
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