A senator representing Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, Godswill Akpabio, said on Monday that he has submitted his petitions to the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Uyo, the state capital, to seek the validation of the senatorial polls results.
This is coming days after the withdrawal of the case he earlier filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, which sought to challenge the said Senatorial elections results for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District in the February 23 senatorial election.
Akpabio’s media aide, Anietie Ekong, who disclosed this to newsmen in Uyo on Monday, said S. Ahmed (SAN), counsel to Senator Akpabio, submitted the petitions on Saturday to the panel sitting at a High Court on Metro Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Senator Akpabio, who was the senatorial candidate for the district on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, is seeking an order of the tribunal to upturn the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Mr. Christopher Ekpenyong, following alleged electoral irregularities which he claimed characterised the said election.
The former Senate Minority Leader had, while the election was still ongoing, stormed the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Uyo with complaints of alleged infractions and deliberate violations of the electoral laws and guidelines during the said senatorial election.
The INEC had, while announcing the results, declared Mr. Ekpeyong and his party, the PDP, winner of the poll, having scored 118,215 votes, as against Akpabio who secured only 83,158 votes.
But Senator Akpabio claimed that “incontrovertible result sheets from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s office in Uyo, Akwa Ibo State, showed different figures that I secured 138,256 votes, as against Ekpeyong’s 123,843 votes.”
“We are not satisfied with the results and outcome of that election; that is why the former governor and the party approached the election petition tribunal to ventilate their grievances as well as reclaim their stolen mandate” Ekong had said.