The Supreme Court will on Thursday deliver judgment in the election petition filed by the former governor of Imo state Ikhedi Ohakim challenging the victory of Rochas Okorochas in the 2011 governorship election.
Mr Ohakim of the Peoples Democratic Party is asking the apex court to nullify the result of the supplementary election held on 6 May 2011 and declare him the winner of the election.
The Court of Appeal had previously dismissed the petition brought by the Mr Ohakim. In the Appeal, the PDP challenged the declaration of Mr Okorochas of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) as the winner of the 2011 Governorship poll in Imo State.
Mr Okorochas was declared the winner of the poll after he polled 336, 809 votes as against Mr Ohakim’s 290, 496 votes. The total votes polled by each of the candidates represent the cumulative votes cast on the first poll which held on 26 April and the supplementary election of 6 May, 2011.
After the release of the result by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Ohakim, the defeated PDP candidate and then governor, congratulated the Governor-Elect on his victory. He also assured the Imo people that he would not challenge the result in court.
However, dissatisfied by this result, Mr Ohakim’s party the PDP filed an Election Petition at the Imo State Governorship Election Tribunal in spite of the fact that their candidate had earlier accepted the result and pledged not to challenge it in the Tribunal. The Tribunal validate Mr Okorochas’ election. The Supreme Court’s judgement will decide if the verdict of INEC, the Imo state election petition tribunal and the court of appeal were right
