>
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of Emeka Ihedioha’s application seeking the review of the January 14, 2020 judgement which sacked him as Imo State governor and declared Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress(APC) as the duly elected governor.
The seven-man panel of the apex court led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, adjourned the hearing after Ihedioha’s counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi(SAN), told the court that processes were still being filed.
“My lords, processes are still coming in. Up till this morning, we were still receiving processes. We therefore, apply for an adjournment to enable all the processes to come in,” Agabi said.
The counsel to Uzodinma and his party, Damian Dodo(SAN), and that of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), Taminu Inuwa (SAN), did not oppose the application for adjournment.
The panel subsequently adjourned till March 2 for hearing.
A seven-man panel of the apex court led by the CJN had on January 14, 2020 removed Iheodioha as the Imo State governor.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who read the lead judgement, had upheld Uzodinma’s appeal, ruling that the votes polled in 388 out of the 3,523 polling units were excluded in the final results declared by INEC in the state.
The apex court held that Uzodinma emerged winner of the election after the addition of the excluded votes.
But Ihedioha, through his lead counsel, Agabi (SAN), had on February 5, 2020, filed an application before the court seeking “an order setting aside as a nullity” the January 14 judgment.