Senator Godswill Akpabio has withdrawn his application from the FCT High Court, seeking a judicial review of the National Assembly election in his senatorial district.

Mr Akpabio who confirmed this to Channels Television on Friday said the withdrawal was to avoid abuse of court processes.

The trial judge Justice valentine Ashi of the FCT High Court also confirmed the withdrawal.

Speaking further, he explained that the order of stay issued last Friday was not to stop the Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC) from carrying out its function but to enable an applicant to exercise his rights.

He also explained that he stayed action last week so that all parties in the suit can address the court on whether it had jurisdiction to entertain a post-election matter.

Akpabio who was a former Senate Minority Leader while he was with the PDP, had vowed to challenge the results of the election.

In an interview with Channels Television after the election, he said he strongly believed that there must have been something wrong with the collation of results.

His rival, Dr Chris Ekpenyong was declared winner of the senatorial seat after polling 118,215 votes to defeat him with 83,158 votes.

•Sourced from a Channels TV report