Imo State: PDP Protests Ihedioha’s Ouster In Owerri

• Protesters stormed streets Sunday

With legal fireworks at the Supreme Court finally sealing the fate of Emeka Ihedioha as Governor of Imo State, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has kept it promise of taking its case to the court of public opinion for support.

On Sunday, January 18, thousands of protesters, mainly their supporters, stormed the streets of Owerri, the Imo State capital to further express dismay at the judgment that has sharply divided opinion among lawyers and in the public space. 

The protesters, who were mostly youths and the elderly, marched peacefully through the streets, displaying placards with different inscriptions to drive home their anger and disappointment.

Some of their placards bore inscriptions such as: “Reverse the injustice now”; “Tanko must go”; “Imo, not a conquered State”; “Ihedioha won landslide”’; “Our mandate has been stolen”; and “Leave Imo people alone”, among others.

Insisting they are demonstrating against what most of them described as obvious injustice against Ihedioha and the PDP, the protesters, largely in black attires, loudly chanted sorrowful as well as solidarity songs in support of the sacked PDP candidate, denouncing the apex court of deliberately suppressing the electoral will of Imo people by its ruling.

Though the protesters were escorted by trucks’ load policemen to forestall possible breakdown of law and order, the peaceful march shut down the state capital for hours, restricting both human and vehicular movement.

Also, expectations are already running high in Abuja, the nation’s capital over threat of PDP’s national secretariat to embark on a protest this Monday, January 20 following the Supreme Court ruling.

Ihedioha and PDP were sacked from the Douglas House on Tuesday, January 13, 2020 by the apex Court which declared Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as duly elected and winner of the March 9, 2019 gubernatorial election in the South East state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, January 14, issued a certificate of return to Uzodinma who has already started work as the new governor and occupant of Douglas House, Owerri. – With NAN reports