Supreme Court judgment reflects poverty of Nigeria’s electoral process — Oyebode

Prof. Akin Oyebode of International Law and Jurisprudence, University of Lagos says the judgment of the Supreme Court on the Imo State governorship election reflected the “poverty of Nigeria’s electoral process”.
Oyebode told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday that the judgment did not reflect the wishes of the Imo electorate.
The Supreme Court had on Tuesday removed Emeka Ihedioha as the Governor of Imo State, and declared Hope Uzodinma the winner.
The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue Uzodinma a Certificate of Return.
A seven-man panel of the apex court, in its decision, held that Ihedioha did not win the majority of votes cast at the March 9, 2019 governorship elections.
Oyebode said: “It strikes me as curious that the candidate, who came fourth in the Imo governorship election, has now been declared as governor.
“The decision reflects the poverty of the Nigerian electoral process such that judges are now substitutes for the electorate.
“Regrettably, the pronouncement by the Supreme Court, for better or worse, is the last word on the matter under our jurisprudence.”
Oyebode hoped that a day would come when Nigeria would take a fresh and hard look at its fundamental law with a view to removing the “perfidy of placing unelected judges above voters”.
NAN.