Chima Nweze, JSC, was the Justice, who had the courage and integrity to admit the January 14 controversial Supreme Court judgement, which sacked by Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo state, was erroneous and given in bad faith.
Mr. Ihedioha had asked the apex court to review that grotesque judgement, which sparked protests across the country and globally.
That decision was also adjudged to be absurd and unjust by legal scholars, civil societies and majority of Nigerians.
It was the first time since the establishment of the Supreme Court in 1963 that its decision had triggered a national protest and international condemnation, especially from the United States, with threats of visa ban on the seven supreme court justices and their families, as well as leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) accused of pressurizing the justices into giving such an unjust decision that disenfranchised Imo people, who voted overwhelming for Ihedioha in the 2019 Imo governorship election.
A former deputy US attorney-general, Bruce Fein had described the Nigerian Supreme Court Imo judgement of January 14 as “flawed, fraudulent and a crime against humanity.”
According to him, the apex court could not have “exposed themselves to such ridicule” in delivering such judgement, which Bruce Delvalle described as “a stuff of comedy,” if there was not a higher force that pressurized them into compromising their independence.
Ihedioha’s request to revisit and review the decision was a rare opportunity handed to the Supreme Court to redeem its image and serve justice.
United States Congressman, Rep. Chris Smith, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, had also said, “the eyes of the world are focused on the Nigerian Supreme Court when it reconsiders a controversial ruling with respect to the gubernatorial election in Imo State that sacked Emeka Ihedioha as governor.”
He had expressed concern over the Nigerian Supreme Court and the danger of eroding constitutional safeguards should the apex court fail to do the right thing in the review of Imo governorship judgement.
Unfortunately, the majority of the justices on the seven-man panel disagreed with Ihedioha, hiding under a bogus claim of infallibility and finality of Supreme Court decisions.
The justices failed to grasp that the doctrine of finality only means that there can be no appeal to a higher court against its decisions. But the court has inherent powers to revisit and review its decisions, which were fraudulently obtained, given in error or where there was a miscarriage of justice.
Only Justice Nweze, realized that a judge should never lose sight of justice, no matter the circumstances. Interestingly, of the seven judges on the panel, he was the only one who was not on seat when the court sacked Ihedioha.
In his dissenting judgment, Nweze asked the court to set aside the January 14 judgment that removed Ihedioha from office, describing it as a nullity and in bad faith.
He also nullified the declaration of Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as governor on account of “wrong declaration” and held that Uzodinma misled the court into unjust conclusion with the unverified votes in 388 polling units.
He said, “This decision of the Supreme Court will continue to hunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come.
“In my intimate reading of the January 14 judgment, the substance of Ihedioha’s matter was lost to time frame. This court once set aside its own earlier judgment and therefore cannot use time frame to extinguish the right of any person.
“This court has powers to over rule itself and can revisit any decision not in accordance with justice. This court has a duty of redeeming its image. I am of the view that this application should succeed. I hereby make an order setting aside the decision of this court made on January 14 and that the certificate of return issued to the appellant be returned to INEC. I also make an order restoring the respondents as winner of the March 9 governorship election.”
LEGAL CAREER
Nweze ascended to the Supreme Court in 2014 when former President Goodluck Jonathan approved the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC), appointing him to that court.
He was later screened and confirmed by the senate.
Before then, he served as a judge of the court of appeal and as judge of the high court of Enugu.
Nweze, born on September 25, 1958, bagged all his degrees, from bachelors to Ph.D, from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN).
He attended St John Cross Seminary, Nsukka between 1972 and 1977. Nweze was called to the bar in 1984 and completed his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in Bauchi in 1985.
He has served as chairman, Ogun state governorship and legislative houses election petition tribunal in 1999; chairman, robbery and firearms tribunal, Nsukka, 1998 and 1999; and member, Ondo state local government election petition tribunal in 1999.