Hundreds of residents of Owerri, the Imo State capital and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State Thursday staged a protest rally in the state capital over the January14 Supreme Court judgment that removed Emeka Ihedioha as governor of the state.
The protesters, who sang solidarity songs as they marched along the road, displayed placards with various inscription such as: ‘We totally reject the Supreme Court Imposition on Imo’, ‘Imo People will never accept an unelected governor’, ‘Supreme Court must reverse this dubious judgment’, ‘Imo people never elected Hope Uzodinma governor’, and ‘Ihedioha is our elected Governor’.
The Supreme Court had on January 14, 2020 removed Ihedioha as the governor of the state and declared Senator Hope Uzodinma as the winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election.
The judgment was instantly greeted with controversy and protests.
The PDP supporters in the state had taken to the streets in protest and demanded the reversal of the judgment of the Supreme Court.
Thursday’s protest grounded activities in the streets of Owerri, while protesters demanded that the Apex Court reversed what they consider an ‘injustice against Ihedioha and the people of Imo State’.
Clad in black clothes, the protesters marched and climaxed their demonstration at ‘Ugwu Ekwema’, the ancestral hill of Owerri people.
Speaking at the protest rally, the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Hon. Uche Onyeagucha accused the justices of the Supreme Court of bringing shame to the judiciary in Nigeria.
He added that if the Apex Court refused to reverse the injustice, the people of the state would take their protest to the federal capital territory to press home their grievances.
Speaking at the protest, the Acting Chairman of the Imo State PDP, Martins Ejiogu, insisted “that the Supreme Court should restore the duly elected Governor of the state Emeka Ihedioha. The Supreme Court has to restore their honour and the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary by reversing the dubious judgment against the people of Imo State because what they did was a great disservice to the people of the state.”
Speaking, Mr Martins Opara, former Director-General, Imo State Orientation Agency, said that the people of Imo will not accept the imposition by the Supreme Court.
“Imo people have resolved not to accept any imposition by the Supreme Court because even the man they want to impose on the state knows that he did not even win any election in 2019,” he stated.
