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The National
Assembly election petitions tribunal in Kwara State has received three
petitions from candidates challenging the result of the April 9
elections results in the state, secretary of the tribunal, Uju
Mesiobi-Emeto has said.

Although many
political parties earlier threatened to challenge election results,
only three were able to meet up with the May 1 deadline for filing of
the petitions.

Mrs Mesiobi-Emeto
however said at the weekend in Ilorin, that the tribunal was ready to
ensure free hearing for all political parties involved in the cases.

The first petition
was filed by the Kwara Central senatorial district candidate of the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Oloriegbe Ibrahim Yahaya and others
against the winner, Abubakar Bukola Saraki of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The second petition
was filed by the Kwara South senatorial district candidate of the ACN,
Ibitoye Anu Ayodeji and others against winner and incumbent senator,
Simeon Sule Ajibola of the PDP and INEC.

The third petition
was also filed by the Kwara Central senatorial district candidate of
the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Bilkisu Tinuola Gambari
against INEC and Mr Saraki of the PDP, who won the election in the
district.

Mrs Mesiobi-Emeto
said although the tribunal had expected more petitions, only the three
petitioners were able to comply with the deadline given by law. She
said whoever did not bring their petition before May 1 did not meet the
deadline and would not have their petitions accepted.

“The petitioners
were given 21 days by law to file their petitions, while the respondent
have seven days within which to respond, while the petitioners also
have seven days to reply to the response,” she said. “The tribunal has
a period of 180 days from the day of the commencement of the hearing of
the petition to deliver its judgment on the matter before it.”

Two teams

On the governorship
election petitions, Mrs Mesiobi-Emeto said the tribunal has not
received any complaints, noting that there is still time for the
petitioners to tidy their papers and file them for adjudication.

The election
petition tribunal in Kwara State has two batches of justices sworn in
to adjudicate on election matters in the state.

The members of the
four-man batch ‘A’ of the tribunal, who are expected to adjudicate on
the senatorial, federal house of representatives and state House of
Assembly elections petitions, include A.A. Adebara, E.B. Mohammad, M.A.
Akoja and H.A. Saleeman.

The members of the
two-man batch ‘B’ of the tribunal who will oversee the governorship
elections petition, are H.O. Ajayi and I.B. Garba.

No date has been fixed for the inaugural sitting of the tribunals in Kwara State .