The Supreme Court confirmed Hope Uzodimma’s re-election as Imo State governor on Friday, solidifying his victory in the November 11, 2023, polls.
News About Nigeria reports that a five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Mohammed Idris, rejected the Peoples Democratic Party’s appeal due to its lack of substance.
Justice Idris addressed all the issues raised in the appeal, ruling against the appellants.
Justice Idris also dismissed the Labour Party’s appeal for being without merit.
The judge, who delivered the lead judgement, resolved three key issues against the appellants.
He found that the appellants failed to provide sufficient evidence to support their claims during the election tribunal.
As a result, he upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision, which had previously dismissed the appellants’ petition.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the Court of Appeal had earlier dismissed the People’s Democratic Party’s appeal on July 16.
A three-member panel led by Justice Bitrus Sanga found that the appeal lacked merit, resolving all issues against the appellants.
Similarly, the appellate court rejected the Labour Party’s appeal for lacking substance.
The appellants had challenged the election tribunal’s judgement, citing non-compliance with the Electoral Act and alleging forgery of Hope Uzodimma’s WAEC result.
However, the court of appeals found that the appellants failed to prove these allegations.
The panel held that the appellants did not provide sufficient evidence of non-compliance or forgery.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the November 11, 2023, governorship election in the state.
The APC candidate polled 540, 308 votes to defeat his closest rivals, the PDP’s Anyanwu, who scored 71,503 votes and the LP’s Achonu, who got 64,081.
