The Census Tribunal on Monday in Abuja struck out a petition filed by Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers challenging the 2006 enumeration figure for the area.
Abraham Yisa, chairman of tribunal, struck out the case for want of diligent prosecution.
Anthony Ibifuro had earlier filed a petition on behalf of the council against the National Population Commission (NPC), alleging that the 72,282 figure declared for the area was inadequate.
However, Yisa said that the complainant was not serious in following the case to its logical conclusion.
“The matter was adjourned for continuation of hearing today, neither the complainant nor the counsel communicated to the court the reasons they are not in court”, he said.
Yisa said also that the tribunal struck out the petition following application by the counsel to NPC, Obina Chukwu, “to strike it out for want of diligent prosecution”.
Chukwu had earlier told the tribunal that the complainant and the counsel had failed to appear before the tribunal.
He said that records showed that the council and its counsel were properly served hearing notice, stressing that by law, they were supposed to communicate to the court the reason for their absence
