By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
No fever than 15 petitions emanating from the just concluded general elections conducted by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are before the 2023 Akwa Ibom State Elections Petition Tribunal due to begin siting in Uyo, the state capital.
The Secretary of the Tribunal in the state, Mr Ibrahim Usman, who disclosed to journalists yesterday, said that Tribunal is still expecting other matters before the commencement of sittings on the cases.
Usman said that the 15 petitions, were filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Young Progressives Party (YPP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Labour Party (LP) and Allied People’s Movement (APM).
He added that out of the 15 petitions received, 11 petitions emanated from the House of Representatives and four petitions from the Senate.
The secretary also disclosed that two motions filed by YPP for inspection of election materials and the motions have been granted by the tribunal.
He said: “Similarly, application by the All Progressives Congress in respect of governorship election for inspection of election materials was received and petition granted. We are in the process of effecting service of the petitions and respondents.”
According to him, the Senatorial petitions received were from Akwa Ibom North East and Akwa Ibom South Senatorial Districts, while no petition was received from Akwa Ibom North West, where Chief Godswill Akpabio, the Senator-elect from the zone hails from, explaining that “the Electoral Act allows 21 days for the petitioner to file petition from the date of declaration and 21 days for the respondents to file their responds after receiving.”
