The Supreme Court has again dodged to hear an application by the All Progressives Grand Alliance seeking to sack Hope Uzodinma as Imo state governor, moving the hearing to December 5, weeks after the November 11 Imo governorship election would have been held, which would render any decision the apex court would give an exercise in futility.
The Supreme Court, presently battling an image problem, had fixed today October 31, 2023, for the commencement of hearing on the matter, which APGA filed in 2020. However, when journalists visited the apex court on Tuesday, the matter was not listed on the court’s cause list.
One of the apex court registrars told journalists that the case had been moved to December 5, but no reason was given for the postponement of the case.
APGA had in the application contended that there ought to have been a fresh election in the state after the apex court nullified the election of the Peoples Democratic Party candidate Emeka Ihedioha, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The party said the Supreme Court did not rule on the validity of Uzodinma’s candidacy since it was not challenged by Ihedioha and the PDP in the appeal marked SC/1462/2019.
Recall that the apex court had in 2019 held that APC had no valid governorship candidate for the Imo 2019 governorship election, after it emerged that Mr. Uche Nwosu was doubly nominated by both the All Progressives Congress and the Action Alliance.
So the legal conundrum is: at what point did Uzodinma become the governorship candidate of the APC when the Supreme Court had sacked Nwosu as the APC candidate?
As a court of public policy, the Supreme Court is obligated to hear the matter, at least before the Imo Governorship Election in the public interest and to ensure that justice is not annihilated.
Recall that Judge Nancy Maldonado of Illinois Court, while hearing President Bola Tinubu’s appeal in the Chicago discovery case, said that she was mindful of the fact that the evidence sought would be needed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Demcratic Party, PDP, to prosecute his appeal at the supreme court of Nigeria. The judge therefore said that she would expedite hearing on the matter and that she would have to work at the weekend so as to timely dispense of the appeal by Tinubu, who was seeking to prevent the release of his academic records at Chicago State University, as sought by Mr. Atiku.
But in the present APGA case before the Nigerian Supreme Court, it appears as if the learned judges are working to defeat the purpose for which the application was filed in the first place – by refusing to hear the matter over three years after it was filed and now wanting to hear it after the Imo 2023 governorship election would have been held and decided.
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