*DISMISSES IHEDIOHA’S REVIEW APPLICATION
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, dismissed the application of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, former governor of Imo State, seeking a review of the judgement which led to his removal from office.
The court had on January 14, 2020, nullified Ihedioha’s victory in the March 9, 2019, election and declared Sen. Hope Uzodinma, his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, winner of the election.
Ihedioha had approached the court, demanding that the judgement should be reviewed.
On Tuesday, a panel of judges led by Ibrahim Muhammad Tanko, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), dismissed the application, saying the ruling of the court is final.
In a lead judgement by Justice Olukayode Ariola, the Supreme Court held that “The finality of the Supreme Court is entrenched in the constitution. Inherent powers can only be evoked if there is a missing link and that is why sometimes the court could be called upon to dot the i and cross the t.”
It also went ahead to declare that the“The finality of the Supreme Court in civil cases is final.”
However, Justice Chima Chiweze, one of the judges on the seven-man panel, disagreed with the judgement and held that Ihedioha was the rightful winner of the election.
Chiweze held that a judgement could be set aside on the merits.“A judgement or order can be set aside on the merits. This court has the power to overrule itself and has done so in the past,” the judge held.
He demanded that a certificate of return should be given to Ihedioha.
Earlier, Hon. Ihedioha’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi(SAN) had moved the motion filed on the 17th February, 2020 and supported by a written address dated the 2nd day of March 2020.
He stated that he was further relying on a further and better affidavit dated the 28th day of February and his reply on points of aw dated the same day as above.
He adopted all the processes filed and prayed the court to grant all the reliefs sought. He was given time to adumbrate on any issues he feels necessary to convince the court.
He started by saying that he was not challenging the judgement of the court but was there to convince the court to change their mind because of perceived mistakes.
Agabi stated that the judgement of the court of appeal dismissing Senator Uzodinma’s petition as incompetent was not pronounced on by the Supreme Court and therefore the judgement was still subsisting.
He stated that the Supreme Court mentioned 388 units but that the tendered result was 366 but the Supreme Court gave judgement on 388 units, which he noted was a fatal error.
He also stated that contrary to the law, the number of votes ascribed to the Uzodinma exceeded the accredited voters by 128,000 votes.
Agabi further submitted that Uzodinma in their pleadings stated that the election was invalid and wondered why an invalid election can result in the return of the Governor. Besides that, he argued that there were no constitutional spread to have returned Uzodinma.
Agabi finally submitted that since Uzodinma prayed in his petition that there should be fresh elections in 388 units that the Court should look into it especially because of its inconsistency.
But Sen. Uzodinma’s lawyer, Dodo submitted that the application was incompetent and should be discountenanced in their entirety.
He submitted that there is a total lack of jurisdiction for the Court to revisit their judgement of 14 January whether it is classified as an application for review or an appeal.
He reminded the Court that it had consistently maintained that it lacks jurisdiction to sit on appeal over its judgement except where there is a slip or clerical errors.
Dodo read the affected judgement of the Court for clarity and submitted that the judgement was clear and categorical and that no one should come to desecrate the honour and integrity of the Court and applied that the application should be dismissed without hesitation.
