The Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has adjourned further proceedings in the case challenging the outcome of the 2026 governorship election following an application by the petitioners to move the hearing to another location over an alleged assault on counsel representing the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Abubakar Kutigi, adjourned the matter until September 23, 2026, to enable the President of the Court of Appeal to consider the petitioners’ request to transfer the case to another venue they believe is secure.
Speaking with journalists after Wednesday’s proceedings, counsel for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Biodun Oyebanji, Adetunji Osho, SAN, said the petitioners’ lawyer, Ebenezer Akinbule, appeared before the tribunal on Tuesday but could not present his witnesses.
Osho said Akinbule blamed the situation on a crisis allegedly affecting the proceedings and subsequently requested an adjournment.
He added that the respondents saw Akinbule and some of his witnesses within the tribunal premises on Tuesday.
According to Osho, the respondents were therefore surprised when they received a letter on Wednesday requesting another adjournment on the claim that Akinbule had allegedly been assaulted and that some witnesses were being prevented from attending the proceedings.
He further said the petitioners had approached the President of the Court of Appeal to seek the transfer of the petition from Ekiti State to another location considered safer.
Osho explained that the tribunal consequently adjourned the case until September 23 to allow the venue-transfer application to be considered.
He said the respondents agreed to the adjournment pending the decision on the application.
Osho said: “The hearing of the petition commenced on the 8th of September 2026 and, as is usual, the hearing was to go on day-to-day. It was then adjourned today for continuation of hearing.
“Yesterday, the petitioner’s counsel, one Ebenezer Akinbule, was in court, and he admitted that the crisis that is rocking the area prevented him from bringing his witnesses and applied that the matter be adjourned today.
“We saw him and his witnesses yesterday within the court premises and until he drove off.
“Today, we were surprised to be served with a letter asking for an adjournment on the ground that he was assaulted and that his witnesses were being prevented from coming to the tribunal.
“We were also informed that he had written to the President of the Court of Appeal for a change of venue and that the petition be transferred from Ekiti to another venue which they consider safe for them.
“The tribunal, in its wisdom, adjourned the hearing of the petition till Wednesday, 23rd of September, for the President of the Court of Appeal to take a decision on the petitioner’s application for transfer of the petition.
“So, we are constrained to concede to the adjournment, and then we will await the President of the Court of Appeal’s decision on the petitioner’s application for transfer of the petition out of Ado-Ekiti.”
