Election Petition Tribunal Throws Out ACN’s Petition In Akwa Ibom

The Will

20 February 2012

Election Petition Tribunal Throws Out ACN’s Petition In Akwa Ibom

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Akwa Ibom State early Monday morning dismissed the petition of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its gubernatorial candidate, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, challenging the election of Chief Godswill Akpabio as Governor of Akwa Ibom State.

THE WILL gathered that in upholding the election of Akpabio as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, the tribunal based its decision to dismiss the ACN petition on last week’s Supreme Court judgement, which affirmed the 180 days rule for all petitions concerning elections to be concluded.

The tribunal sat for about an hour.

Recall that the Governorship elections were conducted in 24 out of 36 states of the federation on April 26, 2011, and going by the 180 days rule, petitions and suits concerning the elections ought to have been concluded at the end of October 2011.