The Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has adjourned proceedings to Thursday after informing parties that the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, had declined a request to relocate the tribunal from Ado-Ekiti.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Abubakar Kutigi, disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing the continued uncertainty surrounding a request by counsel to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ebenezer Akinbuli, to move the proceedings to another location over alleged security concerns.
The development came after the SDP counsel was absent from Wednesday’s proceedings but had filed another letter seeking an adjournment pending the determination of the application for relocation.
Justice Kutigi told the parties that the President of the Court of Appeal had declined to order the transfer of the tribunal’s sitting, adding that the panel remained properly constituted to continue hearing the petitions.
However, counsel for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kabir Akingbolu, and counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Bunmi Ipinlaiye, said they were unaware of the purported order from the Court of Appeal.
The tribunal subsequently adjourned the proceedings until September 24 to clear the uncertainty and continue hearing the petitions.
The dispute over the venue followed an earlier incident in which the SDP’s counsel was allegedly assaulted, prompting the party to request that the tribunal sitting in Ado-Ekiti be moved to Abuja or another location.
The tribunal had earlier adjourned proceedings from September 16 to September 23 to allow the President of the Court of Appeal to consider the request.
But at Wednesday’s proceedings, the SDP counsel was again absent and had sought another adjournment through a letter filed before the tribunal.
Speaking with journalists after the proceedings, APC counsel Akingbolu said the SDP had renewed its demand for the relocation of the tribunal.
He said the request related specifically to the SDP’s petition and not the separate petition filed by the Action Alliance (AA).
According to him, the petitioners were also responsible for Wednesday’s adjournment, having written to the tribunal requesting that the proceedings be postponed. “There is confusion, so we need to clarify it,” Akingbolu said.
He added that the SDP had previously written to the tribunal alleging inadequate security and requesting that the venue be moved from Ado-Ekiti.
The lawyer also criticised the continued delays in the proceedings, alleging that the petitioners were using repeated requests for adjournment to slow down the hearing.
He urged the petitioners to focus on the substantive issues raised in their election petitions.
The APC lawyer further described the challenge to Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s victory as unusual, arguing that the governor won across the 16 local government areas and most of the 177 wards in the state.
He questioned the basis of the petitioners’ challenge, particularly in relation to their vote totals.
However, the claims made by the APC counsel regarding the strength of the election challenge remain arguments by a party to the case and are yet to be determined by the tribunal.
