Akwa Ibom tribunal rules on Umana's witnesses

The Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, will on Thursday decide on the legality of the prayer of the state’s governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the April 11 election, Mr. Umana Umana, to call additional witnesses in his petition challenging the declaration of Governor Emmanuel Udom as the winner of the poll. Justice Sadiq Umar on Wednesday fixed the ruling after the counsel for the APC, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), argued his application to bring in more witnesses and documents to establish the petitioners’ petition. Olanipekun had argued that the application was predicated on an earlier order of the tribunal, which permitted the petitioner to inspect, scan and make copies of the election materials for the purpose of maintaining and sustaining the petition. But counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), objected to the application, insisting that the petitioner ought to have attached relevant documents and lists at the inception of the petition. Meanwhile, counsel for Emmanuel, Usoro Usoro (SAN), has asked the tribunal to dismiss Umnan’s petition and the APC on the grounds that they failed to pay pre-hearing notice fee of N100 as provided by the Electoral Act. They contended that APC did not give the mandatory notice of 21 days before conducting the primary that produced Umana, citing the provisions of Sections 85 and 137 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as ammended). Olanipekun, however, asked the tribunal to discountenance the application because both the Peoples Democratic Party and Emmanuel had already joined issues with the petitioner. He argued that section 85, which deals with notice of convention and congress of any party, did not prescribe any penalty for default.