Ahead of the Tuesday’s hearing of the application by Emeka Ihedioha for the supreme court to review its judgment on the 2019 Imo state governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has written to Ibrahim Muhammad, chief justice of Nigeria, demanding that he and six other justices recuse themselves from the case.
In a letter signed by Uche Secondus, the national chairman, and Umar Ibrahim Tsauri, national secretary, dated February 14, 2020, and seen by TheCable, the party demanded that a new panel be set up to hear Ihedioha’s application.
The party said it feared “likelihood of bias” and “denial of right to fair hearing”.
The other justices the party asked to recuse themselves along with Mohammed are: Nwah Sylvester Ngwuta, Olukayode Ariwola, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Amina Adamu Augie, and Uwani Musa Abba Aji.
They were on the initial panel that gave a verdict against the party’s candidate.
“They should recuse themselves from participating in hearing the application for setting aside their earlier judgment in the above case, on grounds of likelihood of bias, that is, fair hearing,” the party said.
The supreme court had, in a unanimous judgement read by Kekere-Ekun on January 14, 2020, sacked Ihedioha as the governor of Imo, directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a certificate of return to Hope Uzodinma, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
PDP has been protesting the judgment and Ihedioha filed an application asking the apex court to review its verdict “in the interest of justice”.