Stakeholders Decry Slow Pace Of Rivers Election Tribunal

Stakeholders, including lawyers, petitioners and respondents as well as political parties and their supporters have complained over the slow pace of proceedings at the Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja.

The tribunal, which was initially billed to sit in Port Harcourt, the state capital, was relocated to Abuja following alleged rising political tension in the state.

LEADERSHIP Sunday observed that stakeholders are mostly those at Panel One where cases from the national and state assembly elections are being heard.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, counsel to one of the petitioners expressed fears that if nothing was done immediately, most of the cases before the tribunal may not meet the time frame set for completion of hearing of all election matters at the tribunal.

He lamented the seeming delay in handling the matters at the tribunal sitting in Abuja which may affect the entire process of getting justice.

The counsel stated that development was not making the hearing of petitions easy, either for petitioners or respondents because of the cost of bringing and keeping witnesses who are not given opportunity to testify. 

Speaking on the same issue, a petitioner who pleaded anonymity, called on the president of the Court of Appeal to urgently either disband the panel and give the cases to other panels within the three panels or bring in new people to take over from them.