5th December, 2023
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN to personally pay N40 million as a fine to the four respondents he joined in a case seeking to declare Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo State.
The panel of the apex court imposed the fine on Ozekhome after declaring that the motion he filed suit seeking to revalidate the suit that removed Emeka Ihedioha as Governor of Imo State in 2019 was frivolous, vexatious and irritating
Justice Tijani Abubakar who delivered the ruling ordered Ozekhome to personally pay the N40 million to the Action People’s Party’s (APP) Uche Nnadi, Uche Nwosu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the sum of N10 million each.
Ozekhome had, in the motion, asked the court for a consequential order to compel INEC to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Ihedioha to enable him to spend a
four-year tenure as Imo Governor.
The senior lawyer claimed that the incumbent governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, unlawfully spent the four years that Ihedioha ought to spend.
However, the apex court held that Ihedioha’s application lacked merit and was unnecessary and vexatious.
The ruling upholds the Supreme Court judgement of January 14, 2020, which nullified Ihedioha’s election and declared Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Imo state.