The tribunal has been ordered to return to Yola, the Adamawa State capital for all the proceedings, according to a statement by the Secretary of the tribunal, Elsie Akpabio.
The Governorship/National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal for Adamawa State has reversed itself on hearing litigation in Abuja.
The tribunal has been ordered to return to Yola, the Adamawa State capital for all the proceedings, according to a statement by the Secretary of the tribunal, Elsie Akpabio.
Earlier on Thursday, SaharaReporters reported that the Governorship/National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal for the state had taken all the petitions related to the 2023 elections held in the state to Abuja.
This was disclosed in a press statement signed by the Tribunal Secretary, Elsie Akpabio on May 23, which was seen by SaharaReporters on Thursday morning.
It added that all the matters had therefore been adjourned till further notice.
The statement read: “Sequel to the directives of the Honourable President, Court of Appeal, Hon Justice MB Dongban-Mensem dated 23rd day of May 2023, the Adamawa State Governorship/National and State House of Assembly Election Tribunal has been relocated to Abuja for further proceedings.
“All petitions with dates for hearing are adjourned till further notice. Fresh dates and venue of sitting will be communicated to parties.”
Meanwhile, the notice is silent on the reasons for the relocation of the tribunal from Yola to Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC) had declared Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the state governorship election in March.
Fintiri won the supplementary election with 9,337 votes after defeating his closest rival, Aisha Dahiru, popularly called Binani, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who came second in the poll with 6,513 votes.
However, in a dramatic twist on Thursday, Akpabio released a letter on the orders of the President of the Court of Appeal, directing the tribunal to resume sitting in Yola.
The letter, addressed to the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, Adamawa State chapter and seen by SaharaReporters reads, “Kindly bring this to the attention of your members with matters before the election tribunal, that the directive to relocate the tribunal on security grounds to Abuja has been put on hold for now and the tribunal will continue to sit in Yola, Adamawa state.
“Fresh hearing notices will be reissued for matters already fixed for week and next week.”
