Supreme Court says Okorocha’s son-in-law Nwosu was unqualified to vie for Imo gov poll

The Supreme Court has said that Uche Nwosu, the candidate of Action Alliance (AA) was not qualified to vie for the governorship election in Imo State in the 2019 general elections.

The apex court held that, Nwosu, a son-in-law to the immediate past governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, contested the election as both the candidate of the AA and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This was delivered in a lead judgment read by Justice Amina Augie. It said by virtue of double candidature that Nwosu ab intio was not qualified to vie for the office.

Nwosu was declared the winner of the APC governorship primary in the state. However, Adam’s Oshiomhole led national leadership of the party opted for Hope Uzodinma as the party’s candidate. This development led Nwosu to defect to AA at the last minute.

Consequently, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere-led Action Peoples Party, (APP) dragged Nwosu to court and prayed that his candidature be disqualified.

The judgment disqualifying Nwosu, which was read out by Justice Augie, was concurred by the presiding Justice Rhodes-Vivour, Justices Mary Peter- Odili, and Ejimbi Eko and C.C Nweze.

According to the Supreme Court, by virtue of Uche Nwosu’s double candidature and in line with the clear provisions of the Electoral Act, he was bound to be disqualified from the election.

It affirmed the earlier judgments of the High Court and the Court of Appeal on the matter.

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Meanwhile, Imo Ugochinyere has reacted to the judgment.

According to him, “The implication of today’s Supreme Court judgment that quashed Uche Nwosu candidature means that Uche Nwosu/AA Party never had any governorship candidate in Imo 2019 guber election and like the Supreme Court decided in Zamfara all the votes cast for Uche Nwosu/AA was invalid and for you to calculate whether Governor Ihedioha met two-third you have to remove Uche Nwosu/AA void votes and you will see that Ihedioha crossed the constitutional threshold without any doubt.”

Reacting to the ruling, Imo State governor, Emeka Ihedioha has congratulated the Supreme Court for disqualifying Nwosu as a candidate during the governorship election.

Responding in a statement by his chief press secretary, Chibuike Onyeukwu, Governor Ihedioha congratulated the judiciary for “upholding the truth in its landmark judgment.”

He, meanwhile, called on Nwosu to join hands with him in the governance of Imo State.

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“In the spirit of one Imo, one destiny, it has become imperative for all citizens, especially my brothers who contested with me in the last election to sheathe their swords in the interest of our state.

“The elections are over. Governance has taken centre stage and unfortunately, our case is a pathetic one, given that we are rebuilding a devastated state.

“The situation calls for all hands to be on deck in a bid to make our state great again,” Ihedioha said.

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