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Counsels representing over 400 respondents before the Benue State Local Government Election Petition Tribunal have requested an adjournment due to security concerns.
The tribunal was set to begin sittings across the state’s three senatorial districts on Monday.
The counsel; Mathew Burkaa, SAN, Mohammed N Mohammed, SAN and S.I Ameh, SAN for Zone A, B and C respectfully, in separate letters raised security concerns for their request for adjournment.
The separate letters made available to journalists in Makurdi, the state capital, on Monday, were signed by the counsel to respondents in the three senatorial districts, though, with similar content and requests.
One of the letters titled “Re: Notice Of Tribunal Sitting And Our Grievous Security Concerns” explained that the secretary of the tribunal, Awuhe Msughter Emmanuel had via the ‘Local Government Petition Tribunal Makurdi’ Whatsapp group notified the Zone B counsels of the change of date of sitting from Friday, 21 February, 2025 to Monday, 24, February, 2025.
“By the said directive, we were notified that the tribunal would not sit on Friday, 21 February 2025 and that a new date for the petition(s) which ought to come up on the said Friday will be communicated to counsel on Monday, 24th February 2025 in court.
“In the same vein, we were also informed, as a hearing notice, that the tribunal will resume sitting on Monday 24” February 2025. We hereby with regard to the hearing notice against 24th February 2025, state our reservation against the said sitting of the tribunal on the following grounds. We have noted the brewing tense security situation around the court premises and within the state in the past few days.
“These state of affairs have created a serious security concern to us, as we fear for the safety of our team of lawyers and our clients should they attend sitting on the said date of Monday, 24th February 2025”, the letter partly read.
Consequent to the insecurity raised in the letter signed by counsel to 294 respondents from Zone B, Mathew Burkaa SAN requested that the tribunal sitting be adjourned to a further and tentative date when adequate security measures would have been put in place to guarantee their collective security.
“We shall be graciously delighted if our request is given immediate and adequate due consideration,” the letter concluded.
