Supreme Court endorsed electoral fraud with verdict on Imo poll – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday accused the Supreme Court of endorsing electoral fraud with its verdict on the Imo State governorship election.

The apex court had on Tuesday dismissed the application filed by the party and its sacked governor, Emeka Ihedioha, for the review of the January 14 ruling that removed Ihedioha as governor.

Responding to the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the application, the party National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement that the verdict was “a disconcerting endorsement of electoral fraud, which places a huge burden on the court and the Lord Justices.”

The party, however, noted that in the face of the “sad verdict,” Justice Chima Nweze’s judgment presented a glimpse of hope for the nation’s judiciary.

The statement read: “Our party abides completely by every word of the judgment of Justice Nweze as treated facts, which are truly sacred.

“Justice Nweze’s pronouncement, which went straight into the substance of our application represents a universal view about the travesty of justice that occurred in the Imo State governorship election judgment.

“It is indeed unfortunate that the Supreme Court had the wholesome opportunity to redeem itself and correct its errors, but choose to hide behind technicality to justify and endorse an electoral fraud.

“What Nigerians expected of the Supreme Court, since the error in its earlier judgment had been fully established, was to summon the courage to affirm its infallibility by correcting the errors and handing over victory to the rightful winner. Sadly, it failed to do so.

“For the avoidance of doubt, what the Supreme Court had done in this judgment is to uphold and legalize the writing of election results by individual contestants against the will of the people as expressed at the poll.

“As a party, we hold that on this judgment, all election stakeholders must rally to create remedies for this pathetic situation created by the Supreme Court in the Imo governorship election before our entire electoral process becomes vanquished.

“This judgment will continue to haunt the Supreme Court. It has created a burden of precedence and fallibility on the court.

“More distressing is the fact that the judgment has heavily detracted from the confidence Nigerians and the international community reposed on the Supreme Court and our entire jurisprudence.”