The three man Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal handling all matters relating to the 2019 gubernatorial election in Imo State, held on March 23, 2019, is remoured to have fixed Friday, September 20, 2019, for judgment in all the cases involving the Governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the petitioners, Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA) and Distinguished Senator Ifeanyi Araraume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abuja.
It is also rumoured that the Tribunal Judges have relocated to Abuja ahead of the judgement.
While Imolites expect that the Judgements may be delivered on Friday considering the fact that the Tribunal has till 25th of this month to deliver judgement, a source close to the Tribunal stated that considering the fact that the Judges have four different judgements to enter, the time may be too short for them.”The judges are human beings.Writing judgement is not easy.I think they will take their time”, he revealed.
On the issue of relocation the tribunal, the source hinted that the Tribunal Judges are still in Owerri and have not said anything with respect to moving to Abuja or not.”We are part of the suit.We have not been communicated if there is anything of such.I suspect that they may decide to deliver Judgement on September 23 or 24″.
In the interim, there is palpable expression of fear and high expectations as to which way the judgment would go, with many Imolites endorsing a change of administration in the state after eight years of what they describe as visionless but as it is, the fate of the state would be determined by the verdict of the three learned judges.
A member of the Action Alliance to which Uche Nwosu, the son-inlaw of Rochas Okorocha belongs, who spoke to our correspondent, expressed optimism that the judgment will obviously be in favour of his party candidate and stated that it was for that reason that the judges relocated to Abuja. He retorted, “If it were to be in favour of the sitting Government, they would give verdict here”.
However, a lot of PDP stalwarts and supporters have expressed concern over what the outcome of the judgment would be, considering the recent verdict on the Imo West Senatorial contest, where Hon. Jones Onyeriri of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Osita Izunaso of APGA lost to the former Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha.
A concerned PDP leader in Owerri, who spoke to our reporter under condition of anonymity said, that he could not understand what is happening, stating that Imo is calm and not volatile and wondered why the judges chose to relocate to Abuja and perhaps announce their verdict there.
It would be recalled that while some of the petitioners were claiming that they won the election, others were advocating for the outright cancellation of the exercise and subsequent result thereby calling for a re-run to determine who rules Imo for the next three years and nine months, as the incumbent Governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha only last fortnight celebrated his first 100 days in office.
