Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and that of Delta, Emmanuel Uduaghan on Friday retained their respective offices as the Supreme Court in two seperate judgments upheld their victory in the April 26 governorship elections.

The apex court also declared as nullity the decision of the Court of Appeal, but upheld the decision of the governorship election petition tribunal of the two states.

The tribunals in each of the states had separately upheld the victory of the two governors.

Delivering the lead judgment in the Imo appeal, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta held that the Court of Appeal failed to comply with Section 285 (7) of the Constitution which requires the court to hear and dispose of the appeal within 60 days, when it gave reasons for its judgment after 73 days.

It further held that the Tribunal delivered its judgment on November 11, 2011 and the Appeal Court delivered its own on January 6, 2012 but gave its reasons on January 24, 2012 which is outside the 60 days stipulated by the Constitution.

In striking out the appeal, the court held that the judgment of the Imo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which earlier upheld Okorocha's election, subsisted.

In the Delta appeal,the court through Justice Tanko Mohammed, who read the lead judgment, held that the Court of Appeal gave reasons for its judgment 72 days after it delivered it contrary to the 60 days provision of the Electoral Act.

The court, however, upheld the decision of the tribunal which affirmed the election of Governor Uduaghan.

A  5-man panel of justices of the apex court had fixed today for judgement in the appeals brought by the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), and its standard bearer in Imo state, Mr Ikedi Ohakim, as well as that of the governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples party, (DPP) in the April 26 gubernatorial election in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru.

The appellants had at the last adjourned date took argued reasons why the apex court should invoke its powers and nullify the elections that brought the two sitting governors into office.

However, the respondents in opposition to the separate appeals, implored the adjudicating panel to go ahead and dismiss the suits as being legally incompetent and grossly lacking in merit.

Specifically, the DPP candidate, Ogboru,  through his lead counsel, Dr Nwokoike Onwubiko, (SAN), argued that the judgment of the Benin Division of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the election of governor Uduaghan was statute barred in view of the fact that the appellate court gave reasons behind its verdict, outside the 60 days period stipulated by Section 285(7) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, for the determination of governorship election dispute.

He told the court that whereas the appellate court affirmed the verdict of the election petition tribunal in the state on January 5, it did not give reasons behind the judgment till January 27, a date he insisted was outside the constitutional time-frame for the determination of such matters.

He equally urged the apex court to, in the alternative, invoke Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act and hear the substantive contention of the appellant against the said election, as well as grant all the relief he sought before the lower courts.

Nevertheless, Governor Uduaghan, his party PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who were all joined as defendants in the suit urged the apex court to strike out the appeal for want of merit.

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