It was a sea of lawyers yesterday at the Umuahia High Court as the Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal resumed sitting.

Seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and 40 other lawyers were in attendance for Dr. Alex Otti, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate in the April 11 poll, who on May 15 filed a petition seeking the nullification of the election of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP).

Yesterday was for mention, with the case being adjourned to Monday, June 15, for report of service and compliance to order of court for inspection of materials used for the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Otti’s lawyers had complained INEC’s alleged uncooperative attitude, which made the tribunal to extend the period for the examination of the election materials by 20 days.

Otti is claiming in his 411-page petition election that produced Ikpeazu as governor was “marred by a lot of irregularities.”

The APGA candidate, whom lost the ballot by 180,882 to 264,713 votes, is urging the tribunal to nullify the results from Obingwa, Osisioma, Isialangwa North and Ugwunagbo LGAs due to election malpractices in those areas.