THE Supreme Court has on Tuesday sacked Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo state and declared former senator and candidate of the All Progressive Party (APC) Hope Uzodinma as the duly elected governor of Imo state.
In a court judgement by a seven-man panel led by the Chief Justice of the Nation, Tanko Muhammed, the decision to sack the incumbent governor was unanimously taken.
Announcing the decision of the panel, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun ordered the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return earlier issued to Ihedioha while another is immediately issued to Uzodinma.
Earlier today candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) withdrew his petition from the Supreme Court based on advice by the court.
The Imo State Election Tribunal had dismissed petition filed by candidates of AA, APC, APGA against Ihedioha over a petition that he was unlawfully declared the winner of the election that took place in March 2019.
INEC had in March announced that PDP candidate Ihedioha polled a total vote of 273,404, Nwosu had a total vote of 190,364, APGA candidate, Ararume 114,676, YPP Ohakim 527 while the newly declared governor by the Supreme Court Uzodinma had 96,458.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94