Imo shuts down for Ihedioha over S’Court judgment
Owerri, the Imo State capital, was on Sunday shutdown by angry citizens of the state in a peaceful demonstration over the sacking of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of the state by Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on January 14, 2020 voided March 9, 2019 election that elected Hon. Ihedioha and in its judgment declared Senator Hope Uzodinma duly elected as the governor of the state.
The protesters numbering in hundreds including members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were cladded in black, caused vehicular movement into major streets in Owerri, the state capital.
The demonstrators, who were accompanied by heavily armed police men and other security agencies, chanted songs, urging the Apex Court to reserve its January 14, 2020 judgment by reinstating Hon. Ihedioha as the governor of the state.
All the major roads and streets in Owerri leading to the Okigwe Road were blocked and manned by armed security agencies. The protest which started at about 3.30 pm terminated at the Government House round about.
Some of the placards carried by the protesters read, “PDP says no to Supreme Court judgment; Save our judiciary; Give us our votes, let the truth be told’; Tanko you are corrupt; Imo wants Emeka Ihedioha, reverse the injustice”.
Speaking to journalists, the former Chief of Staff to the Ihedioha, Chief Chris Okewulonu, said the people of the state were in shock to hear the Supreme Court remove Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of the state, after he won decisively during the March 2019 governorship election.
His words: “We were all in shock when on the 14th of January, the Supreme Court reversed the judgement and awarded victory to APC candidate.
“We discovered that initially that the Supreme Court did not devote much time to hear the matter. We deduced that there was some funny movement. Our fears were confirmed when on the day of judgement, the Supreme Court went on break and resumed about 4 pm.
“The judgement was not in consonance with the arguments in court and the judgement did not reflect the election that took place in Imo State on March 9 last year. We are all Imo people and participated in the election and noticed that Ihedioha clearly won the election”.
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He described the judgement as highly compromising, adding that the people of the state decided to embark on the protest because they did not want to resort to violence.
The protesters therefore called on the Apex Court to reverse the judgement on the grounds that it had made a mistake.
“The Supreme Court must reverse the judgement. It has happened in the past. They should quickly reconvene and do justice.
There are a number of instances where the Supreme Court realised it made a mistake and reconvened to do justice to the matter. The most important thing is the interest of the people of the state”.
