Gov. Fintiri

The Adamawa State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday filed a motion seeking  leave of the Adamawa State Election Petition Tribunal to withdraw the petition it filed to challenge the declaration of Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as the winner of the governorship election in the state.

Ex-governor Jibrilla Bindow of the APC lost the 2019 governorship election to Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but he declined to challenge the outcome of the election while his party insisted on heading to the tribunal.

At the resumed sitting on Tuesday in Yola, APC’s motion to withdraw the petition was however trailed by disorder as another team of legal representatives for the party claimed it had filed a counter motion dismissing the claim.

The lead counsel to APC, Smart Ukpanah informed the tribunal that his client had filed a motion seeking to discontinue the case. Aliyu Bakari,  APC’s Vice Chairman (Adamawa Central), also announced appearance for the party.

However, Eze Okoye led a team of other lawyers to also announce appearance for the APC just like Smart Ukpanah had done. The party’s Treasurer in the state, Mohammed Adamu took sides with the Okoye-led team.

After the motion of withdrawal was mentioned, Okoye objected and told the tribunal that he had filed a counter motion on behalf of his client, the APC.

In the ensuing confusion, Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice A. A. Adebara asked the opposing APC counsels to go and sort things out. He thereafter adjourned to July 15 to hear both the motion and the substantive matter.