Supreme court upholds Uzodimma’s election as Imo governor

The supreme court on Friday affirmed the re-election of Hope Uzodimma, as the governor of Imo state.

In a unanimous decision, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the electoral victory of Uzodimma in the last November 11 governorship election.

In November 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Uzodimma, the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election in Imo state.

The electoral body said Uzodimma polled 540,308 votes to beat Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP, who scored 71,503 votes; and Athan Achonu, candidate of the LP, who secured 64,081 votes.

However, the PDP and LP candidates alleged irregularities in the polls and filed petitions at the state election tribunal in Abuja.

The tribunal upheld Uzodimma’s victory but the two opposition candidates approached the appeal court to upturn the verdict.

Despite losing at the appellate court, they sought refuge in the supreme court to turn aside the lower court’s verdict.

During the hearing on Friday, the apex court dismissed the two appeals filed by the PDP and LP and their governorship candidates, challenging Uzodimma’s victory at the poll.

The court dismissed the appeals for want of merit and consequently affirmed Uzodinma as a lawfully elected governor of Imo State.

In the lead judgment delivered by Mohammed Baba Idris, the LP and PDP gubernatorial candidates were said to have failed to establish allegations of overvoting and other malpractices against the November 11 poll.

The court upheld the earlier decisions of the court of appeal and that of the Imo state governorship election petition tribunal which sat in Abuja and dismissed the petitions in their separate judgments.