By Ahuraka Isah
For calling him the ‘Supreme Court Governor’, Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, has asked the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF),
Abubakar Malami (SAN); the leadership of the National Assembly among others to prosecute those behind the alleged act. Specifically, Uzodima urged the trio of NJC, AGF and NASS to bring some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwarts in Imo State who are behind the appellation, ‘the
Supreme Court Governor.’ The governor who is visibly disturbed over the label said the PDP
members are perpetually referring to him as the ‘Supreme Court Governor’ at every available opportunity.
In a document circulating in the local tabloid in the state tagged: ‘Petition against Mr. Ogubundu Nwadike, the Imo State Publicity Secretary for the PDP”, and signed by the Special Adviser to the state
governor on Political Matters, Chief Batos Chikezie, he demanded that Nwadike and his cohorts should desist from making such “wicked propaganda and blackmail characteristically designed to incite and
delude the people of the state thereby misdirecting them to disregard the judiciary.”
The governor called on the NJC to bring Nwadike to book and charge him for contempt for “persistently making mockery of the decision and proceeding of the Supreme Court on the Imo State gubernatorial
election, thereby making them look compromised and biased in the eyesof the public which is a dent on their integrity and pedigree.
“We call on the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to quickly clampdown on Nwadike as a practicing journalist, and require that all media outlets blacklist him from their stables, blogs, pages and
airtime in referencing a duly elected government as an ‘Abuja/Supreme Court Government’, which is a calculated attempt to incite the people of the state and dent the image of the most esteemed judiciary arm of government.”
The political adviser to the governor maintained that “since January 14, 2020, when the Supreme Court in a monumental judgement on the state gubernatorial election declared Uzodimma as the duly elected governor of the state and asked the authorities to issue him a certificate of return and to be sworn in accordingly, Nwadike continued to refer toUzodimma as the ‘Supreme Court Governor’ and Chief Emeka the elected governor of the state in the print, electronic and social media.”
In his reaction, Nwadike, who talked to newsmen, dismissed the petition against him, noting that the special adviser to the governor “is known for his noise-making that nobody takes him seriously.”
He, however, alleged that his (Batos) action had actually exposed the nuances of the present administration of Uzodimma by “indirectly telling Nigerians and Imo citizens in particular that the governor is a ‘Supreme Court Governor’.” Leadership
