The African Centre for Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR) has expressed concern over what it calls a delay by Justice Anthony Akpovi-led panel of Justices in delivering judgments regarding the election petitions for Imo State House of Assembly seats for Isu, Orlu, and Ideato LGAs, which hearings were concluded last month and the expiration date for conclusion of the election petitions just a few days away.
At a media rally the following week, ACJHR stated that it would inform the National Judicial Council (NJC) and foreign missions of Justice Akpovi’s activities. It also requested that all of his judgments, which used the illegal pre-election grounds to deny people victory, be investigated, the judge disciplined, and the judge put on a visa ban as a deterrent to other Judges.
The group also urged NJC to look into the alleged involvement of a former deputy senate president named Ekomaru and Justice Akpovi in the events leading up to the embarrassing rulings made by his tribunal, where settled arguments about the location of primaries prior to elections were used to either void legitimate elections or deprive petitioners of justice.
Remember that the three-member panel has been in the spotlight ever since they rendered a shocking ruling that invalidated the election of Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere of the People’s Democratic Party (Ideato North/South) triumphed with a resounding victory, defeating his opponent in just one of the 346 voting units.
The leadership of the ACJHR claimed in a press release signed by Comrade Abubakar Musa that it had discovered a deliberate attempt to deliver a judgment that would be out of time by miscalculating the dates; as a result, the judgment had not been delivered weeks after the hearings ended.
