Supreme Court should have ordered fresh election in Imo –Rights Lawyer, Abdul Mahmud

Abdul Mahmud, a lawyer, social critic and human rights advocate, has faulted the decision of the Supreme Court to sack Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Imo State.

The apex court had sacked Ihedioha and pronounced Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the rightful winner of the election.

The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue Uzodinma a Certificate of Return.

Reacting to the ruling, Mahmud posited that the court should had ordered another election due to circumstances surrounding the exercise.

He said, “Considering that the evidence on the record was before the Supreme Court, the best outcome would have been cancellation of the Imo poll as requested by APGA for rigging.”

In a tweet, the lawyer also blamed INEC for not judiciously defending the cancellation of votes in 388 polling units in the March 2019 election.

He wrote, “On the basis of the lawful votes, Ihedioha was declared winner. When battle raged at the tribunal last July, APC cleverly argued that its votes lawfully declared in polling units were unlawfully excluded at the collation center. It called 54 witnesses, including INEC officials.

“PDP only called one witness to rebut the testimonies of APC witnesses. INEC didn’t call a single witness, tender a single document on the disputed excluded votes, nor called its collation officers as witnesses.

“At the tribunal, INEC played a funny game and PDP didn’t defend its victory with seriousness, knowing that the appellate courts sit on the records of the tribunal.

“Ostensibly, the Supreme Court simply set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal and tribunal and accepted the evidence of the APC led at the tribunal.

“Did the Supreme Court do the right thing? Law is a strange being, guided by rules of evidence: on the basis of the unchallenged evidence of the APC, the court acted right. But We should be careful.

“An entire process fudged by security agencies and INEC created the mess we now see.

“INEC admitted rigged results at the polling units and tried to exclude them at the collation center didn’t show a responsible commission.

“Worse still, INEC neglected to defend an election it conducted, leaving PDP Ihedioha hung and dry at the tribunal. Finally, the security agencies made Imo poll what it was: dirty poll.”