Apex Court Stalls Akwa Ibom Elections Petition Tribunal Sitting in Abuja

By Newslink

The relocation of the Akwa Ibom Elections Tribunal to Abuja  run into a hitch as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has approached the Supreme Court to interpret the Law setting up the tribunal and the legality of the process of its relocation.

The Constitution provides in Section 285 Sub section (2) that: “There shall be established IN EACH STATE of the Federation one or more Election Tribunals, which shall to the exclusion of any court or tribunal, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions as to whether any person has been validly elected to the office of Governor or Deputy Governor or as a member of any legislative House.”

Counsels to Governor Udom Emmanuel led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Paul Usoro are seeking the interpretation of this and the negative effects of the case to the interest of their client.

Already, former Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Uwemedimo Nwoko, has faulted the movement of the state election petition tribunal to Abuja, describing it as unconstitutional, baseless and lacking any
justification. The former commissioner said this in Uyo, the state capital on Saturday in an interaction with journalists. Mr. Nwoko pointed out that the movement of the tribunal to Abuja has a multiplier negative effect on the entire state. He also stated that the PDP was not in a hurry due to the fact that whatever proceedings that “are conducted in Abuja, unless the tribunal comes back to Akwa Ibom, is a nullity and amounts to no issue”.

Citing the example of the case between former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori and Great Ogboru, Mr. Nwoko recalled that the Court of Appeal held that an election petition tribunal created pursuant to section 285, subsections 2, must hold its sitting in the state where the election took place.

He declared that to move the election petition tribunal outside the territory of the state where the election was conducted, was a violation of the
constitution."

In a related development, elected National and State Legislators of the PDP in Akwa Ibom who have their victories challenged by opponents in the Tribunal have filed a separate petition at the Federal High Court challenging the relocation of the Tribunal to Abuja. The elected members argue in the plea that, there is no way, their over 3,000 witnesses and counsels can be conveyed to Abuja to enable them have a fair hearing and defense of their cases.

This also comes as the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Akwa Ibom chapter have approached the supreme court to stall the relocation of he tribunal to Abuja, on grounds that, it tramples their rights to appear in the Tribunal due to inconvenience. They also fault the claims that, the relocation is on account of security concerns, arguing that no such fears are tenable as no breach of peace has ever occurred since the case began.

As it stands, the Elections Petition tribunal proceedings is  stalled as it will not proceed until the Supreme Court interprets the relevant sections of the Constitution to resolve the matter.

It will be recalled that, The Akwa Ibom State election petition tribunal was relocated from Uyo to Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as the All Progressives Congress cited security concerns and fear of the case not being settled before the expiration of the 180 days stipulated by the constitution for every petition arising from electoral disputes to be dispensed with. Already, 57 days as at the time of going to Press has since elapsed. It remains to be seen what the outcome of the pending suits will be.