Election Petitions Tribunal Begins Sitting In Akwa Ibom

The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has commenced sitting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, to hear complaints from political parties  arising from the conduct of the just concluded general elections.

The Tribunal chaired by Justice A.A. Adeleye during the initial sitting, granted an order directing the INEC, headed by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Cyril Omoregbe, to avail all certified true copies of the electoral documents utilised in the conduct of the governorship election held on March 18, 2023 to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Governorship candidate Ezekiel Nya-Etok, and his agents for inspection.

The tribunal listed materials to be inspected to include; registered  members of political parties that participated in the election and submitted copies of the INEC forms, EC8A, ECBC, and ECBD, all published at each polling unit, certified true copies of result sheets from each polling unit and transmitted by INEC to the INEC IREV portal , CTC of the state master result sheet, receipt for the electoral materials, INEC election collation officers’ reports, S.P.Os and P.Os reports in respect of the said election.

Justice Adeleye also ordered INEC to be urgent to enable Nya-Etok, the petitioner, move expeditiously regarding the matter at the tribunal.

The petitioner while speaking with journalists said he took the matter to court to instill sanity in the conduct of elections and to make sure that his right scores are recorded, even as he dismissed allegation he collected bribe to the tune of N2.2billion from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the election to drop the his aspiration and align, describing the allegation as “baseless and complete fallacy.”