Appeal Court nullifies judgement against Rivers LG election

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has nullified the judgement that barred the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from releasing voters register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, for the conduct of local government elections that held in the state on October 5.

A special panel of the court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, faulted the Federal High Court for barring security agencies from providing security during the elections.

The panel held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain suit against the Rivers State LG elections.

He stressed that Section 28 of the Electoral Act does not cover elections conducted by states, but only federal elections, governorship and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory.

It will be recalled that Justice Peter Lifu of the high court had, in a judgement he delivered on a suit that was filed by the All Progressives Congress, APC, stopped the conduct of the Rivers State LG election.

The trial court held that the RSIEC erred by fixing date for the conduct of polls in the 23 local government areas without strict compliance with relevant laws guiding such election.

Justice Lifu noted that RSIEC failed to publish the 90-day mandatory notice, before it scheduled the election.

Besides, he held that the update and revision of voters register to be used for the election ought to have been concluded before any valid date could be fixed for the polls.

Consequently, Justice Lifu ordered INEC not to make the certified voters register available to RSIEC, pending when the relevant laws were complied with.

He further barred RSIEC from accepting any voters register from INEC or using same for the purpose of the LG polls that held on October 5.

APC had in the substantive suit that was marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/987/2024, prayed the high court to halt the election.

In a 13-paragraph affidavit that was deposed to by one Tony Okocha, the acting Chairman of Rivers APC, the party told the court that the suit was necessitated by the failure of RSIEC to strictly comply with provisions of the Electoral Act in respect of the management of the register of voters intended to be used for the elections.

The deponent averred that it is only voters registers that are compiled, maintained, updated and kept in the custody of INEC, that the Rivers Electoral Commission could obtain and use for the conduct of the LG polls, as RSIEC was not statutorily entitled to compile, maintain, update and keep in its custody any separate voters register.

The Justice Otisi-led special panel had earlier reserved judgements on consolidated appeals relating to the political crisis rocking Rivers State.