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ABUJA, Nigeria —The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja has nullified the judgement that prevented 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.
The court panel instituted on behalf of the case and 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.
Citing Section 28 of the Electoral Act, Otisi said that it does not cover elections conducted by states, but only federal elections, governorship and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory.
Recall 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.
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.
In a substantive suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/987/2024, the APC had 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.
Going by the rising tension in the polity, Justice Otisi-led special panel had earlier reserved judgments on consolidated appeals relating to the political crisis rocking Rivers State.
