A retiring Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, has disclosed that members of the seven-man panel that delivered the controversial judgment overturning the outcome of the 2019 Imo State governorship election were placed on a United States visa ban that remains in force.
Abba-Aji made the disclosure on Friday during a valedictory court session organised in her honour following her retirement from the Supreme Court upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Although she did not identify the judgment responsible for the restrictions, she linked the visa ban to a controversial ruling that she said was widely misinterpreted.
“My time on the Supreme Court bench was filled with challenges, some of which have served as additional opportunities to stand firm on the side of justice, regardless of the consequences.
“One of such challenging judgments was widely misinterpreted and led to a travel ban to the United States of America being imposed on all members of the panel, a ban which still holds today,” she said.
The disclosure is understood to relate to the January 14, 2020 judgment of the Supreme Court that removed Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Imo State governor and declared Senator Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the governorship election.
The judgment, delivered by a seven-member panel, overturned concurrent decisions of the Imo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had upheld Ihedioha’s victory.
Uzodimma had initially been placed fourth in the election results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, the Supreme Court, in its decision, admitted and added results from 388 polling units, representing 213,295 votes, which were presented before the election tribunal by a police officer who testified as PW-54 but had been disowned by INEC.
After recalculating the votes, the apex court declared Uzodimma the candidate who secured the majority of lawful votes cast and ordered INEC to withdraw Ihedioha’s Certificate of Return and issue a fresh one to Uzodimma.
The decision triggered widespread controversy, protests and questions about the treatment of the disputed polling-unit results.
The panel was led by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad. Other members included Justices Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Uwani Abba-Aji, Sylvester Ngwuta, Kayode Ariwoola, Amiru Sanusi and Centus Nweze.
Following the judgment, Ihedioha returned to the Supreme Court seeking a review, arguing that the decision had occasioned a miscarriage of justice. The court, however, rejected his application.
Justice Nweze was the sole dissenting member of the panel. He held that Ihedioha should be reinstated, describing the judgment that removed him as a nullity.
In his dissenting opinion, Nweze warned that the decision would have far-reaching consequences for Nigeria’s electoral jurisprudence.
“This decision of the Supreme Court will continue to haunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come,” he said.
At Friday’s valedictory session, Abba-Aji described the reported US travel restrictions as one of the personal sacrifices associated with her judicial service.
“Such inconveniences were a small price to pay to preserve the chastity of justice,” she added.
Meanwhile, the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, praised the retiring jurist for her contributions to the Nigerian judiciary, particularly her service and leadership in advancing the participation of women in the legal profession.
Kekere-Ekun recalled that Abba-Aji joined the judicial service in Borno State in 1973 and rose through several administrative positions, including Clerical Assistant, Assistant Registrar, Acting Registrar and Higher Registrar.
She was elevated to the Court of Appeal on September 22, 2004, serving in various divisions, including Benin, Abuja, Ekiti, Owerri and Kaduna, before her appointment to the Supreme Court on January 8, 2019.
The CJN described her career as an important part of the evolution of women’s participation in the Nigerian judiciary.
She particularly highlighted Abba-Aji’s leadership roles in the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria and her tenure as President of the National Association of Women Judges Nigeria.
According to Kekere-Ekun, the retiring justice’s contributions helped create opportunities for other women to find their voices and assume leadership positions within the judiciary.
