Some political activists have called on the United States and the United Kingdom to place visa ban on all seven member panel of the Supreme Court that delivered judgement on Imo State Governorship election.
The group, Coalition In Defence of Democracy and Constitution led by Ariyo Dare Atoye, protested to the embassies of the US and the UK in Abuja said that the judiciary cannot continue to give judgement that would undermine the nation’s democratic process.
The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Tanko had on January 14 nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha as Governor of Imo State and declared Hope Uzodinma of All Progressives Congress (APC) as validly elected Governor.
The group argued that democracy would no longer be the same again in Nigeria with the conflicting judgement of the Court.
Atoye also added that the trust of the people in the judiciary as the last hope of the common man has been dashed and Nigerians would no longer have confidence in the Supreme Court.
According the petition “The Justices who delivered the Imo judgement and their families should be placed on Visa restriction to serve as deterrence to others.
“The US, UK should give an indication that it will continue to support the judiciary in Nigeria, only if the Imo judgement is reversed and the judiciary stops interfering in the democratic process with unsound and unpopular judgements”
The petition added the country has never been confronted with a grim situation where ‘the total number of votes cast in an election being higher than the total number of accredited voters as declared by the Supreme Court.
“We are also confronted with another dangerous scenario where, for the first time at the level of the judiciary, the Supreme Court has validated and created a precarious development in which the Police can now function as an alternative to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“Since the testimony of a single police officer has led to the validation of an alleged “exclusion of results.” The statement added.
