SAN FRANCISCO, January 15, (THEWILL) – Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has received the Certificate of Return from the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) as the governor-elect of Imo State.
He was awarded the certificate on Wednesday, barely 24 hours after the Supreme Court nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of the state.
This was after INEC said that it will not issue the Certificate of Return as duly elected governor of Imo State until it is served with the enrolled order of the Supreme Court Judgment.
THEWILL recalls that the Supreme Court, Tuesday, sacked Emeka Ihedioha as Imo governor and declared Uzodinma as the authentic winner of the April 2019 governorship election.
According to the Commission, it is yet to be served with the enrolled order of the Supreme Court judgment and until that is done, it cannot issue Uzodinma the Certificate of Return.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC National Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said in a statement, “the Commission is yet to be served with the enrolled order of the Supreme Court Judgment, therefore we cannot issue the Certificate of Return to the APC candidate yet. However, once the Commission receives the enrolled order, the CoR will be issued”.
He, however, observed that the non-issuance of the CoR cannot derail the swearing-in ceremony of the Imo governor.
The Commission does not act based on newspaper publications, we’ve always obeyed Court judgments but until we are served with the Certified True Copy of the judgment we cannot release the CoR.
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