Should the Supreme Court Review its Judgments? An Examination of the Grounds for Appeal of Nigeria’s Apex Court Ruling on the 2019 Imo State Gubernatorial Elections

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VI, June 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

Should the Supreme Court Review its Judgments? An Examination of the Grounds for Appeal of Nigeria’s Apex Court Ruling on the 2019 Imo State Gubernatorial Elections

Mustapha Salihu
Ph.D. Candidate, Nile University of Nigeria

Abstract : The study set out the examine the grounds upon which the Supreme Court of Nigeria is been asked to review a judgment it gave on January 14, 2020 in respect to case Ihedioha Vs. Uzodinma. In a watershed judgment the supreme court unfilled the electoral victory of Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo mandating that the Independent National Electoral Commission issue a certificate of return to Senator Hope Uzodinma who came fourth in the polls at the rightful winner of the electoral bout on some technical incoherencies that characterized the conduct of the election. Rightly, so Ihedioha approached the apex court praying it reverse it decision. Upon review of relevant cases and sections of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, it was observed that while the apex court has sometimes in the past reviewed its own ruling, there were no specific provision exists which gives the Supreme Court power to set aside its obviously bad judgement in Uzodinma & Anor. v. Ihedioha & 2 Ors that the Court cannot set it aside is necessarily flawed. The Court retains such power under its inherent powers. It is not given by the 1999 Constitution. It is inherent in it. It is, however, recognized under section 6(6) of the said Constitution which affirms that it cannot be taken away.

Keywords: Supreme Court, Ihedioha, Uzodinma, Imo State Gubernatorial Elections and Independent National Electoral Commission.

I. INTRODUCTION

My simple answer is that it is not part of the jurisdiction or duties of this Court to go on looking for imaginary conflicts. We are final not because we are infallible; rather we are infallible because we are final”. Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Akunne Oputa, J.S.C. The above notable and profound pronouncement forms part of the ipsissimaverba of My Lord, the Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Akunne Oputa, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, of blessed and remarkable memory when he delivered the leading judgment (to which Obaseki, Nnamani, Karibi-Whyte and Agbaje, JJSC all agreed) on Friday 19th day of May, 1989 (Omodion, 1989). The above state reinstates the supremacy and finality of the apex court not on the basis of infallibilities of it distinguished judges but on the basis of constitutional pronouncements.

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