Emeji K. Noble
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ivil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has expressed shock that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Muhammad Tanko and the hierarchy of the Supreme Court have not reacted to the contemptuous prophecy by Enugu State based Catholic Priest, Fr. Ejike Mbaka.
The group claimed his utterance undermined the credibility of the apex court in the subsisting litigation between the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma and Governor Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP).
HURIWA has also accused the Catholic cleric of behaving like a political agent provocateur working for the APC and some forces bent on creating confusion and chaos in Imo State.
HURIWA in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, said Fr. Mabaka of the Adoration Ministries in Enugu State had pointedly asked Governor Emeka Ihedioha to get ready to lose his seat this year which in the thinking of millions of people referred directly to a matter that is subsisting before the Supreme Court.
HURIWA said Fr. Mbaka’s statement had led a section of Imo people to believe that sources within the Supreme Court may have leaked out contents of the court judgment between Uzodinma and Ihedioha.
“This is not the first time that the nation’s highest court has faced criticism from the public over alleged leakage.
This time around, may we join millions of worried Nigerians to task the Chief justice of Nigeria to openly tell what is going on and why the conspiratorial silence from the Supreme Court since the Enugu State based Catholic Priest who is a well known associate and sympathiser of the APC at the national level made a contemptuous prediction purportedly and pointedly claiming that he has the esoteric knowledge of the outcome of a pending political litigation between the APC and the PDP in Imo state with specific reference to the legal challenge mounted by Senator Hope Uzodinma challenging the victory of Governor Emeka Ihedioha.”