The Court of Appeal’s Abuja Division has overturned a Federal High Court judgment that ruled against the Rivers State Local Government election.
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The appellate court determined the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC). The court also held that the Section 28 Electoral Act is not applicable to local government elections. but only federal elections, governorship and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory.
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal stated that the Federal High Court did not have the jurisdiction to entertain the appeal filed by the APC against the conduct of the local government election in Rivers State. The court further clarified that the Electoral Act, which governs the conduct of elections in Nigeria, does not apply to local government elections.
The special panel led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi held that the lower court was wrong to have ordered security agencies not to carry out their constitutional duties. The panel also nullified the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the voters’ register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the conduct of the state local government polls, which have now been conducted.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court had previously delivered a judgment in a suit, criticizing RSIEC for setting October 5 as the election date without adhering to the relevant laws governing the conduct of the election. He ruled that the Rivers State electoral body violated the provisions of the local government election law by failing to publish the mandatory 90-day notice before fixing the election date. The judge further held that the updating and revision of the voters’ register should have been completed before a legally valid election date could be set. Consequently, he ordered INEC not to release the Certified Voters’ Register to RSIEC until all legal requirements had been met.
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