BREAKING: Supreme Court Dismisses Ihedioha’s Judgement Review Application

The Supreme Court has dismissed the application filed by Mr. Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP asking the court to set aside its January 14th judgement that sacked him as the Imo State governor.

Justice Olukayode Ariwoola who delivered the judgement said there is no constitutional provision empowering the Apex court to sit on appeal over its own judgement.

He ruled that the court does not have the competence to review its own judgement.

According to Justice Ariwoola, the finality of the Supreme Court is entrenched in the constitution, so the inherent power of the court does not allow it to review or set aside its own judgement.

Six of the judges on the panel agreed with the apex court’s verdict while Justice Chima Nweze gave a dissenting judgment, stressing that the decision ought to be reviewed.

Justice Nweze held that the court has the power to overrule itself in a situation where such a judgment was not seen to have met the justice of the case.

He added that the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, misled the court in arriving at the judgement which removed Ihedioha from office after about 10 months.

According to the judge, there is no evidence that Governor Uzodinma satisfied the required spread to have been declared the winner of the election.

He, therefore, told other judges on the panel that the judgement upholding Uzodinma’s victory in the March 9, 2019 poll would continue to haunt the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.