•Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State

The Abia Governorship Election Petition Tribunal said on Friday that it would commence hearing in the petition before it on Aug. 10.

Its Chairman, Justice Usman Bwala, gave the date in Umuahia during its sitting.

The petition was filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the April election, Dr.Alex Otti.

Otti is challenging the declaration of Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu as the winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The date for the hearing indicates the end of pretrial of the petition challenging the declaration of Ikpeazu as the governor of Abia.

Alex Otti: gets a date

The judge also said that ruling in the motion filed by Ikpeazu, urging the tribunal to strike out the petition for incompetence, would be taken along with the judgment.

The counsel for Ikpeazu, Mr Adeniyi Akinlola (SAN), had argued in his motion that the petitioner’s application for pretrial was filed out of time.

He described the application as “invalid and premature’’ and should be struck out.

The counsel for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Paul Ananaba (SAN) and that of INEC, Mr Hargler Okorie, reinforced Akinlola’s argument and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition on grounds of incompetence.

They further urged the tribunal to rule on the motion before adjourning Friday’s sitting.

They said that the ruling should not be deferred till the end of hearing as earlier ruled in other motions.

Responding, Otti’s counsel, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), said that the application for pretrial was duly filed on June 19, contrary to the Akinlola’s claim that it was filed on June 22.

Owonikoko brought some comic relief to the court hall when he told the tribunal that the June 22 date referred to by Akinlola was in respect of a petition they both handled in the Imo governorship petition and not the Abia case.

He therefore urged the tribunal to strike out Akinlola’s motion.

The tribunal chairman said that ruling on the motion would be taken with the judgment to save time.

He said that pretrial report had been given to all the litigants and fixed Aug. 10 for the commencement of the trial of the petition.

The judge also advised the petitioner to prepare to call his witnesses and warned against “interjections’’ from lawyers in the audience.