Akwa Ibom Guber Tussle: Tribunal Adjourns Again

AKWA IBOM STATE GOVERNOR, CHIEF GODSWILL AKPABIO.

UYO, January 26, (THEWILL) - In its bid to determine the authentic winner of the April 26, 2011 guber race in Akwa Ibom State, the Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Uyo, the state capital, has fixed February 7, 2012, for further hearing in a suit challenging the outcome of the election.

The legal tussle is between Governor Godswill Akpabio of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator John Akpanudoedehe of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Akpanudoedehe, his running mate, Chief Ime Umanah and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) filed a petition immediately after the April 26, 2011 governorship election challenging the election of Akpabio and Mr. Nsima Ekere, as governor and deputy governor respectively.

But their petition which accused the PDP of electoral fraud was dismissed by the last tribunal on technical grounds; citing flaws in the filing process which it submitted violated the provisions of the Electoral Act.

Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s judgment, they proceeded to the Appeal Court in Calabar but their quest to annul the election was also frustrated by the appellate court. This prompted the petitioners to take the matter before the Supreme Court. The apex court in its November 14, 2011 ruling ordered that the matter be brought back and re-tried at the tribunal.

This led to the re-constitution of a fresh 3-man tribunal headed by Justice Ayuba Kwajafa and with the mandate to entertain the matter on its merit which resumed its first sitting on Monday and later adjourned to Thursday.

At the second retrial session on the matter Thursday, the defence and petitioner’s counsels argued on the issue of whether the matter should continue or not based on the 180 days allowed by the Electoral Act for election cases to be determined.

The respondents lead counsel, Chief Bayo Ojo had urged the court to strike out the ACN petition for a re-trial on the grounds that the 180 days allowed for the hearing and delivery of judgment on the matter had lapsed on November12, 2011.

On the other hand, the petitioner’s counsel lead by Kola Awodein (SAN) asked the tribunal to hear the case on its merit, arguing that it is very unconstitutional for the tribunal to disobey the ruling of the Supreme Court which ordered the re-trial of the matter.

ACN lead counsel, Mr. Kola Awodein (SAN) had also withdrawn his petition filed on the 24th of January and prayed the tribunal to grant him an extension of time.

Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Kwajafa after listening to arguments from both the petitioners’ and defence counsels fixed February 7, 2012 for ruling on whether the tribunal would entertain the case on its merit.

In an interview with newsmen after the tribunal session yesterday, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr. Emmanuel Enoidem expressed optimism that the final ruling of the current tribunal would favour Governor Akpabio.

According to Enoidem, who is also the State PDP Secretary, ACN would suffer the same fate as it suffered in previous judgments of the tribunal and the Appeal Court, adding that there is no cause for alarm as the mandate given by the people of the state at the April 26, 2011 election would be upheld.