Just In: Supreme Court to deliver judgment any moment from now

TRACKING_____The Supreme Court has stood down judgment in the application filed by Emeka Ihedioha seeking a review of the court judgment that relieved him of the post of governor Imo state till 3pm.

Arguing the application this morning Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN) withdrew the motion dated February 5,2020 and argued the motion dated Feb 17, 2020 that was supported by seven paragraphs affidavit and ten exhibits .

He said the application was accompanied by written address and a further and better affidavit of ten paragraphs with exhibits dated Feb 28, 2020.

Again also filed process replying on point of law dated 28 Feb, 2020. “We crave your indulgence to adopt the processes and prayed the court to grant the relief sought.

According to Agabi. “We are not here to challenge the Supremacy of the court. Your judgement is final. But one can pray God to change His mind
He said that the decision of the court of appeal which struck out by the Uzordinma appeal was not appealed against but abandoned .

He said that in the judgment reference was made to 388 polling unit that were excluded but they tendered result from 366 leaving the balance of 22 polling units uncounted for.

Besides, he added the number of votes exceeded the registered voters by over 100,000.

The appellants also branded the election invalid. If their relief is for the court to declared the election invalid they can not be given the governorship seat from an election that is invalid.

He said that appellant did not defend all these abnormally and he got a verdict which he did not seek.
Our case is different from Bayelsa case.

We pleaded the errors and urged the court to set aside the judgment of Jan 14. 2020.

On his part, Damian Dodo (SAN) said he relied on his preliminary objection filed on Feb 26 .He also listed the additional authorities he filed on February 28 and the process on point of law filed on March 2 and asked the court to dismiss the application for lack of jurisdiction.

On the main application , Dodo said he filed counter affidavit on Feb.26 and a written address in opposition to the application. He also filed list of additional authorities on February 29. He urge the court to dismiss the application for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

He said the crux of objection is that there total lack of jurisdiction to revisit the judgment of Jan 14.whetherit is a review or given any other name.

Read Also: Imo Election: Supreme Court adjourns hearing in Ihedioha’s application

He said the Supreme Court has consistently held that there is lack of jurisdiction to sit over its own judgment, adding that “there is no doubt whatsoever that the intention of the court was explicitly stated in the judgment.

No one can invite this court to revisit the decision. He said the fundamental thing is that this court lack jurisdiction to sit on the appeal over it’s own judgement.

“The application falls short of an application for review. ” He said it is on the record that they abandoned other reliefs and sought one relief in the face of clear evidence of the matter. “The issues of inconsistent in relief does not arise. “

He further argued that the judgment clearly set aside all the decisions of the court of appeal. Therefore the argument of the applicants that this court did not set aside some aspect of the decision does not arise.

He urged the court to dismiss the application on merit.

Inuwa SAN counsel for INEC did not file anything.