Spirited effort by lawyers to Chinasa Nwaneri, a top aide of Hope Uzodimma, Governor of Imo State, to persuade  Umah Isa Dodo, of an Abuja Magistrate Court to proceed with the suit to deal with spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), came to nought, as the court not only stopped further hearing, but promptly struck out the case.

Douglas House, Owerri, the seat of power in Imo State, had moved against Ugochinyere, the outspoken activist, lawyer and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the House of Representatives in next month’s election, over allegations fraud by the All Progressives Congress, APC), in the voter register in 18 States including Imo state.

In September last year, the Coalition, alerted a shocked Nigerian public of how it not only uncovered massive  fraud in the voter registration, but a sinister plot to sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as a move to use secret court action to stop the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine in the 2023 general elections.
Dodo’s verdict in terminating the case, flowed from the decision of  Justice M. A Hassan of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who had suspended further proceedings on the matter pending the hearing of the application for judicial review filed by Ugochinyere.

The judge granted leave to the applicant. Justice Hassan sought certain orders by way of an order for certiorari including an order of prohibition directed against the respondents by themselves or acting jointly or through agents, prohibiting them from conducting any hearing or further proceedings against the Applicant in the matter of Nze Chinasa Nwaneri V Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu, case No. WZ6/CR/30/2022, or on any facts constituting the same subject matter as that case.

An order of injunction restraining each of the respondents by themselves, jointly or through agents, from further, prosecuting the Applicant in the matter of Nze Chinasa Nwaneri Vs Mr Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu or in respect of any matter whose subject matter constitutes the same as the Case.

Relying on the above orders of the FCT High Court, Magistrate Umah Isa Dodo agreed that the impact of the order of the High Court was that he should stay proceedings, went further to also raise jurisdiction issues and resolved that his Court lacked the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

The Magistrate had earlier threatened to order the arrest of Ugochinyere if he did not appear before him before he was served with the processes pending at the High Court and which warranted the suspension of the trial.

They argued that the lawful thing for the Magistrate Court to do was to obey the pendency of the matter in the High Court and stop its own hearing.

Cross section of lawyers interviewed at the end of the session were unanimous in agreeing that the case was provocative and an audacious move by the Imo State Government to silence the opposition spokesperson who revealed the massive voter register manipulation now popularly called the Omuma Magic.