Ihedioha: Supreme Court verdict a rude shock, unfair

Former Imo governor Emeka Ihedioha says the Supreme Court judgment which declared Sen. Hope Uzodinma winner of the 2019 governorship election in the South-Eastern state came to him as a “rude shock”.

“The judgment did not reflect the wishes of the people as expressed on election day; it is unfair,” Ihedioha said in a press statement he signed and issued to our reporter on Wednesday in Owerri.

He said: “I do not agree with the judgment because it did not take care of the sensibility of the people, but my Deputy, Mr Gerald Irona, and I, have no option but to accept the outcome of the verdict.

“No doubt, yesterday’s judgment came to us as a rude shock considering the facts on ground, the legal precedence and the people’s mandate,” he said.

He said he had put machineries in motion to hand-over the office to Uzodinma as the next governor, adding that the hand-over would be coordinated by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Uche Onyeaguocha.

He urged all political appointees to write their hand-over notes and also return all government property in their custody.

He said that he would always cherish the support he got in the last seven months, adding that he sought to elevate merit, unity of purpose and transparency and inclusive approach to governance.

Ihedioha further stated that he restored dignity to Imo by setting a new roadmap for good governance which reversed its negative trajectory within a space of seven months.

“It is significant to note that Imo was looking good again; we were declared the least corrupt state in Nigeria and the state with the fastest growing economy,” he said.

He said he ran a good race, fought battles and governed the state well, and regretted that the court truncated his mandate.