The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, has declined a request by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to relocate the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal from Ado-Ekiti over alleged security concerns.
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The development emerged when the tribunal resumed sitting on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, after an earlier adjournment to enable the Court of Appeal President to consider the petitioners’ request for a change of venue.
The request followed allegations that counsel connected with the SDP petition, Ebenezer Akinbuli, had been assaulted and that some witnesses were being prevented from appearing before the tribunal. The alleged assault had prompted the tribunal on September 16 to adjourn proceedings until September 23 for a decision on whether the hearing should be transferred to another venue considered safer by the petitioners.
However, Akinbuli was absent when proceedings resumed. Another letter was presented seeking a further adjournment pending clarification of the application for relocation.
Chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Abubakar Kutigi, informed counsel that the President of the Court of Appeal had declined to order the transfer and that the tribunal remained properly constituted to continue hearing the petitions.
A fresh issue, however, arose when counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kabir Akingbolu, and counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Bunmi Ipinlaiye, said they were not aware of the communication conveying the decision, which had reportedly been served through the tribunal secretary.
Justice Kutigi consequently adjourned proceedings to September 24 to clarify the position and allow the substantive hearing to continue.
Speaking with journalists after the sitting, Akingbolu said the relocation application concerned the SDP petition and not the separate petition filed by the Action Alliance.
“There is confusion, so we need to clarify it. The SDP filed a petition and the AA filed a petition,” he said.
According to him, the SDP had earlier complained about security at the tribunal and requested that the proceedings be moved from Ado-Ekiti to Abuja or another location.
Akingbolu said: “On the last adjourned day, September 16, a petition was written by counsel to the party, SDP, saying that there was no security and that the venue of the tribunal should be moved to Abuja or elsewhere.”
He maintained that the latest adjournment followed correspondence from the petitioners concerning both the relocation request and continuation of proceedings.
“As it is today, they are secure. They are the ones that sought the adjournment. The court has now adjourned the matter to tomorrow for continuation at the instance of the petitioners because they wrote the petition and a letter of adjournment to that effect on both election petitions,” Akingbolu said.
The APC counsel also questioned the challenge to Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s re-election, describing the petition as unusual because of the voting pattern recorded during the June 20 governorship election.
“It is an unprecedented petition. The success of the governor and the people is unprecedented. The 16 local governments, almost the entire 177 wards, were won by the governor,” he said.
INEC had declared Oyebanji, the APC candidate, winner of the election with 319,224 votes. The outcome subsequently attracted petitions before the governorship election tribunal.
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