The Akwa Ibom State  governorship tribunal has ordered for a rerun of the governorship election in the state following an appeal by the APC governorship candidate Umana Okon Umana and his party the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Umana and APC had alleged that election did not hold in Akwa Ibom showing both pictorial and video evidences that there was ballot box hijacking, massive thump printing and rigging across the state. Umana challenged the conduct of the poll and declaration of Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the governorship election.

Giving its verdict on Wednesday, the Tribunal said it was satisfied that there were discrepancies during the governorship election held on April 11. So it ordered Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct re-run election in 18 local government areas of the state. There are 31 LGs in Akwa Ibom.