The Supreme Court has affirmed the re-election of governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state.
The final verdict by the apex court was delivered on August 23, 2024, Friday.
The Imo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had affirmed the election of Hope Uzodimma as Imo State Governor.
Uzodimma, under the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and incumbent governor of the state, was declared the winner of the Imo State governorship election, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), nine months ago.
Legal disputes
Nairametrics previously reported that Professor Abayomi Fashina, the Returning Officer for Imo State, declared Uzodimma as the victor, according to INEC.
Earlier, Nairametrics reported that Uzodimma cleared all 27 local government areas in Imo State, winning with a sweeping 540,308.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party had 64,081 while the PDP candidate, had 71,503, coming behind the winner.
The Labour Party approached the tribunal alleging overvoting and non-compliance to the Electoral Act.
But the tribunal held that Uzodimma’s election victory aligned with substantially the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Legal team to the parties then approached the Court of Appeal for redress.
The appellants had asked the Court of Appeal to hold that the November 11, 2023 off-cycle governorship election was invalid for contravening the provision of the Electoral Act.
The appellants also accused Uzodimma of academic forgery.
Uzodimma’s lawyers urged the court to dismiss the requests for being an abuse of court process for lacking in relevant evidence.
But the appellate court ruled in favor of Uzodimma, paving way for final verdict by the apex court.
The Court of Appeal held LP failed to prove its allegations beyond reasonable doubt.
The appeal court equally dismissed the case filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), against Uzodinma’s victory.
What the Supreme Court said
Passing its verdict on Friday, the apex Court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
The apex Court subsequently affirmed Uzodimma’s election.
More insight
A governor is an elected official who is in charge of the state affairs including its internally generated and federally allocated revenues.
By the judgment of the apex court, Ododo has been backed all the courts to continue discharging his duties as Kogi State governor.
Ododo took over from ex-governor Yahaya Bello and he served as former Local Government Auditor-General in Kogi state.
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