Move materials to Abuja, A’Ibom tribunal orders INEC

The Akwa Ibom State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja yesterday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to move the electoral materials used for the April 11, 2015 governorship election to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.This is to enable the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the poll, Umana Umana, to‎ inspect them. 

Umana and his party had complained to the tribunal that it was unable to enforce an earlier order granted to them by the tribunal to inspect the materials in Uyo due to security concern.

‎The Sadiq Umar-led three-man panel tribunal, in its ruling on the application by Umana and the APC, ordered INEC to move the materials to Abuja within 10 days.

The tribunal also directed security agencies to provide adequate protection for the transportation of the electoral materials from Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, to Abuja.

Umana and the APC had filed their petition before the tribunal seeking the nullification of the victory of Governor Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the April 11 poll.

Emmanuel, the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Nigeria Police Force are the five respondents to the petition

Umana and his party had argued that their application for the relocation of election materials from Uyo to Abuja was not novel as it was done by previous governorship election tribunals in the case of Osunbor v. Oshiomhole; Agagu v. Mimiko; Doma v. INEC and most recently in the case of Adeyemi. Maleye.

‎The tribunal, also on Wednesday, rejected an application by the petitioners seeking an order striking out Udom’s response to the petition for being filed out of time.