Benue Tribunal: Counsels seek adjournment over security concerns

Counsels to over 400 respondents before the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal in Benue State have raised the alarm of insecurity at the venue of the tribunal across the state and requested an adjournment.

The Benue State Election Petition Tribunal was expected to commence sitting across the three senatorial districts of the state on Monday.

Though it was earlier scheduled for last Friday, it was later rescheduled for today (Monday).

But counsels Mathew Burkaa, SAN, Mohammed N Mohammed, SAN, and S.I. Ameh, SAN for Zones A, B, and C, respectively, in separate letters said that their demands for adjournment to a later date were hinged on “grievous security concerns.”

The separate letters were made available to newsmen in Makurdi on Monday.

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.

According to one of the letters, “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, 24 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 24 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.

“This state of affairs has created a serious security concern for 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, 24 February, 2025.”

The counsels, in the separate letters, consequent to the insecurity raised in the letter, 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.

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