The Court of Appeal has rejected the Social Democratic Party’s request to relocate the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal from Ado-Ekiti over alleged security concerns.
The development stalled proceedings at the tribunal on Wednesday, as SDP counsel Ebenezer Akinbuli was absent from the sitting.
Chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Abubakar Kutigi, told parties that the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, had declined to order the transfer of the proceedings, adding that the tribunal was properly constituted to continue hearing the petitions.
In a letter to the tribunal, Akinbuli sought another adjournment pending the determination of the application for relocation.
Counsel for the All Progressives Congress, Kabir Akingbolu, and his counterpart for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Bunmi Ipinlaiye, however, said they were not aware of the purported decision of the Court of Appeal, which was said to have been served through the secretary of the tribunal.
Justice Kutigi subsequently adjourned the proceedings until Thursday, September 24, to clarify the position and allow the hearing to continue.
Speaking with journalists after the proceedings, Akingbolu said the SDP requested relocation in respect of its petition and that it did not concern the Action Alliance petition.
He also said the latest adjournment was at the petitioners’ instance, alleging that letters seeking postponement of proceedings had been filed for both petitions.
He further alleged that repeated applications for adjournment were delaying the hearing of the substantive petitions and urged the petitioners to allow the proceedings to take their course.
“There is confusion, so we need to clarify it. The SDP filed a petition, and the AA filed a petition. On the last adjourned day, September 16, a petition was written by counsel to the party, SDP, saying that there was no security and that the venue of the tribunal should be moved to Abuja or elsewhere,” he said.
The APC counsel added that the tribunal had adjourned the matter to Thursday for continuation following the petitioners’ request.
The tribunal had earlier adjourned proceedings from September 16 to September 23 to enable the Court of Appeal President to consider the request for a change of venue following an alleged assault involving the SDP counsel.