Akwa Ibom State Election
Petitions Tribunals sitting in Uyo have been ordered to relocate to Abuja following alleged misconduct by some parties involved in the petitions.
The two tribunals sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom capital, are those of the Governorship Election Petitions and the National and State Houses of Assembly Elections.
Though no official statement was issued from the secretariat concerning the two tribunals, a source in the secretariat, who spoke on ground of anonymity last Monday, confirmed the relocation.
Speaking with newsmen a counsel to All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates at the tribunal, Mr Fidel Albert, said that the relocation was announced during sitting.
“The court announced that they are relocating but the venue is not officially mentioned.
“When enquiry was made as to why the relocation, the chairman said that the order was from the President of Court of Appeal,” Albert said.
Albert, who is appearing for 23 APC candidates in the National and State Houses of Assembly Tribunal, said that some of his clients would be affected financially by the relocation.
He said that the cost of transporting witnesses and materials would be high and painful for those clients with little finances.
Albert, who opined that somebody must have petitioned the President of Court of Appeal on the sitting, expressed the hope that the relocation was for the cause of justice.
Source said that three-member Tribunal for Governorship Election is headed by Justice Goddy Anunihu and other two members are Justice Raphael Aguwa and Justice J. B. Olowosegun.
The Chairman of National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal is Justice Adedayo Oyebanji, and the other members are Justice J.C.Iguh and Justice Bala Shuaibu.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared winner of governorship election, the three senatorial districts seats and the 10 House of Representatives seats in Akwa Ibom.
PDP also was declared winner of the 25 seats in the State House of Assembly leaving only one out of 26 for APC.
Meanwhile, a  former Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Akwa Ibom, Mr Uwemedimo Nwoko, says that the movement of the state election petition tribunal to Abuja is unconstitutional, baseless and lacking any justification.
Nwoko said this in Uyo when interacting with newsmen, he noted that the movement of the tribunal to Abuja has a multiplier negative effect on the entire state.
He said 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’.
According to him, if one is to rely on the case of Ibori and Ogboru, 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.
“We in the PDP, we the Akwa Ibom lawyers, and the NBA, are ready to challenge the movement of the tribunal to Abuja. It has a multiplier negative effect on the entire state.
“Why we are not in a hurry is that whatever proceedings are being conducted now until they come back to Akwa Ibom, outside the territory of Akwa Ibom, is a nullity and amount to no issue.
“You can imagine the kind of burden, financial and logistic that will be put on the party that are going to move about 15,000 witnesses to come and testify in the election petition tribunal in an election that took place in Akwa Ibom”, he added.