Akpabio Turndown Tribunal Hearing Petition Against His Election As Senator

The immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday refused to attend the sitting of the election petition tribunal hearing a petition challenging his election as Senator representing Akwa Ibom North West district.

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The tribunal is sitting in Dutsen Alhaji, Abuja, after it was transferred from Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, due to security concerns.

Mr. Akpabio, whose declaration as Senator by the Independent National Electoral Commission is being challenged by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Inibehe Okori, had on June 11, 2015 filed a motion challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to relocate from Uyo to Abuja.

The former governor’s 14-person legal team, made up of four Senior Advocates of Nigeria and 10 other lawyers were all absent from court Tuesday.

Mr. Akpabio had earlier argued that the petition against his election cannot be heard until the jurisdiction suit, presently before the Court of Appeal, is disposed of, a position that was unanimously rejected by the tribunal which ruled that pre-hearing must continue while parties await the Appeal Court ruling on the substantive matter.

At the resumed hearing, none of the 14 lawyers who signed the pre-hearing documents on July 2 was present.

Rather, Paul Usoro, a SAN, filed a letter requesting that the matter be stood down till 1 p.m. because he had engagements at another tribunal.

Reacting to the development, the counsel to the petitioner, Assam Assam, SAN, said it was disgusting that Mr. Usoro could on behalf of Mr. Akpabio write to inform the court that he is engaged and would not be in court till 1 p.m, when based on the documents before the tribunal, he is not the lead counsel to the first respondent as claimed.

He noted that at least one out of the 14 lawyers ought to have been in court.

While not objecting to the 1 p.m. request of Mr. Akpabio’s legal team, Mr. Assam reminded the three-man panel that all tribunals sit concurrently and that it should take notice of the circumstance involving time.

He said if the request is granted, the possibility of repeating same request another time is possible.

The counsel to both the second and third respondents, INEC and the Peoples Democratic Party raised no objection.

Ruling on the request, the chairman of the tribunal, Adedayo Oyebanji, said it must be noted that all tribunal sits simultaneously, therefore, such a request will not be tolerated by the tribunal in the future.

He said the tribunal, being time bound, is poised to ensure the speedy disposition of the petition in line with the time allowed by law.

He however adjourned the matter to 1p.m. Tuesday.

However, as at 2.15 p.m. when the tribunal came back from recess, neither Mr. Usoro, who had written to say he would be around by 1 p.m nor Offiong Offiong, who is said to be recuperating from an illness was in court.

This led the tribunal to adjourn to Tuesday, July 21, for continuation of the pre-hearing process.