The Supreme Court has upheld the re-election of Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma in the governorship election held on November 11, 2023.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris on Friday, August 23, 2024, dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its governorship candidate in the Imo State election, Samuel Anyanwu, on the grounds of lacking merit.
Justice Idris addressed and resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants. Justice Idris equally dismissed the appeal by the Labour Party and its candidate, Athan Achonu, for being unmeritorious.
The judge, who authored and delivered the lead judgment, resolved the three issues identified for determination against the appellants. He ruled that the appellants, as petitioners before the election tribunal, had failed to prove their case as required..
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Justice Idris then affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had upheld the decision of the Imo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to dismiss the appellants’ petition. The Court of Appeal in Abuja had, on July 16, rejected the appeal filed by the PDP and Anyanwu, challenging the Imo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal’s decision to affirm Uzodimma’s election as governor.
The three-member panel led by Justice Bitrus Sanga found the appeal lacked merit after resolving all issues raised against the appellants. The appellate court also dismissed appeals from the Labour Party and its candidate, as well as the Allied Peoples Movement on similar grounds of lacking merit. The appellants, dissatisfied with the election tribunal’s judgment, had challenged the Court of Appeal on the basis that the 2023 gubernatorial election was invalid due to non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
The appellants also questioned Uzodimma’s qualification, alleging that his West African Examination Certificate result was forged. In its judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled that the appellants failed to substantiate their allegation of non-compliance.The court also held that the appellants failed to prove that the Imo State Governor submitted a forged certificate.
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