Youths in Ebonyi State under the aegis of Umuekumenyi United Youths Forum have expressed worry over the relocation of the Ebonyi State Elections Petition Tribunal from Abakaliki, the state capital, to Abuja, FCT.
The Secretary of the tribunal, Nyior Henry, had on Wednesday announced the relocation of the tribunal to Abuja, adding that the directive was issued by the President of the Court of Appeal, Monica Mensem.
But Umuekumenyi Youths at a press conference in Abakaliki on Thursday morning wondered about the rationale behind the action of the Appeal Court President.
President of the forum, Uche Aliega, flanked by the Majority Leader of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Victor Chukwu, and other members of the group alleged a coordinated attempt to truncate justice by the opposition People’s Democratic Party PDP (PDP).
Aliega said “We are Unwuekumenyi United Youths Forum; the apex youth organisation of Unwuekumenyi extraction in Ebony State. We span over eighty (80%) per cent of the population and are spread across ten (10) out of the 13 LGAs of the State. We freely elect to state as follows:
“We frown at the decision to relocate the Ebony State Election Petition Tribunal at the Instance of the PDP gubernatorial candidate for the March 18, 2023 governorship election.
“That going by the precedence that propped /throw up the PDP candidate, we are worried that there is bias or prejudice, in granting one party the preference of choosing a venue outside the Ebony State capital Abakaliki.
“Furthermore, the panel of judges in the Ebony State election petition tribunal was never under any pressure of threat, attack or any other danger, neither was any party or persons to the post-election litigation being pressured, intimidated or attacked as to warrant this relocation of the tribunal from Abakaliki to the FCT.
“That the cost of transportation to Abuja is high, the security situation of the route to Abuja from Ebony is dangerous and other accruing logistics associated with the relocation is excruciating; witnesses to the matter may suffer abduction en route Abuja; thereby impeding the evidence required of them.
“The present development surrounding the news of the relocation of the tribunal to the FCT is already building tension and is capable of throwing the state into an avoidable and unnecessary crisis. Suffice it to say that
these whole shenanigans are suspicious and unacceptable to the people of Umwuekumenyi and the good people of Ebony State.
The Unwuekumenyi people frown at this insult and view the move as an affront to our psyche.
“We wish to state that Ebony State is very peaceful, safe and secure for these legal processes to go on.
“On the strength of the foregoing, we therefore call on the relevant authorities namely the NJC, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President Court of Appeal, and Hon. Anthony General of the Federation to urgently consider our appeal and return the Ebony State election petition tribunal to the State, Abakaliki, as is obtained in other peaceful states of the Federation.”
