The Supreme Court has dismissed the application for review of its January 14, 2020 judgment which sacked Emeka Ihedioha as Imo State Governor and declared Hope Uzodinma as the valid winner of the last governorship election in the state.
A seven-man panel of the apex court led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, in a split ruling of six-to-one, described the application by Ihedioha ruling as an invitation to sit in an appeal over its judgment.
Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who read the lead ruling, held that the Supreme Court lacked the jurisdiction to review its judgment once it is delivered and that there is no law that mandates the court to reverse itself.
But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Centus Nweze held that the court change its mind on any decision, having done so in the past.
Justice Nweze held that the portion of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which struck out the petition by Hope Uzodinma, was not resolved by the Supreme Court.
He held that the Supreme Court was without jurisdiction to have given the judgment it gave declaring Uzodinma winner.
Justice Nweze also held that the court has the power to overrule itself in a situation where such a judgment was not seen to have met the justice of the case.
He added that the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, misled the court in arriving at the judgment which removed Ihedioha from office after about 10 months.
According to the judge, there is no evidence that Governor Uzodinma satisfied the required spread to have been declared the winner of the election.
He, therefore, told other judges on the panel that the judgment upholding Uzodinma’s victory in the March 9, 2019 poll would continue to haunt the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.
