Supreme Court judgment on Bayelsa can’t compensate for Imo governor

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday sent a strong message that the judgement of the Supreme Court that restored the party’s mandate in Bayelsa State cannot compensate for the controversial judgment of the apex court on the Imo governorship election in which the PDP victory was upturned and Hope Uzodinma of the APC was declared winner with creative votes and results that contradicted INEC’s results and records.

The PDP acknowledged the Supreme Court judgment restoring its mandate in the Bayelsa State governorship election but insisted that the apex court must right the wrongs in the Imo State governorship election judgment.

The PDP in a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary, maintained that the Bayelsa judgment will not change the course of its demand that the Supreme Court rectifies the manifest and widely rejected mistakes contained in its judgment on the Imo State governorship election.

“Our party insists that the Supreme Court will be redeeming its image and restoring public confidence on its infallibility by reviewing the Imo verdict given the manifold unjustifiable mistakes contained in that judgment” the statement read in part.

The PDP restated that the miscarriage of justice in the Imo State judgment is glaring given the established fact that the panel assumed the roles of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), by recognizing the votes concocted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Hope Uzodimma, which ended up increasing the total number of votes in the election to 950,952, over and above the INEC certified total accredited votes of 823,743.

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In another miscarriage of justice, the Supreme Court panel named Senator Uzodimma/APC as winner whereas it had on December 20, 2019 ruled that Uche Nwosu, and not Senator Uzodimma, won the APC governorship primary, the PDP argued.

The party further argued that the Supreme Court had also disqualified Uche Nwosu from the election for having acquired the governorship ticket of two political parties; the APC and the Action Alliance (AA), which constituted an aberration to the electoral laws.

PDP declared: “Our party holds that a judicial review on Imo governorship election has become inevitable because by these earlier rulings of the Supreme Court, not only is Sen. Uzodimma not a candidate, the judgments also nullified all the votes that could have been accruable to APC and AA and their candidate, Uche Nwosu, in the election, leaving the PDP candidate, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, as the incontestable winner of the election.”

The PDP, thereafter, congratulated the people of Bayelsa State, the governor-elect, Senator Douye Diri and the deputy governor-elect, Lawrence Ewrujakpor, as their mandate has been restored.

The inauguration is scheduled for Friday if INEC does not choose which judgment to obey – whether the Supreme Court or APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, who vowed that no governor will be sworn in because of the Supreme Court judgment.