THE Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned a Federal High Court ruling that had prohibited the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from providing the voters’ register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the recently conducted local government elections in Rivers State.
Delivering the judgment, the special panel, chaired by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, stated that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
The panel clarified that Section 28 of the Electoral Act applies only to federal elections, governorship elections, and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, not state-conducted elections.
The appellate court also ruled that the lower court erred in directing security agencies not to perform their constitutional duties.
Recall that, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court had ruled that RSIEC violated local government election laws by failing to issue the mandatory 90-day notice before setting October 5 as the election date.
He also held that the voters’ register update and revision should have been completed before the election date was fixed.
Consequently, he barred INEC from releasing the Certified Voters’ Register to RSIEC until all legal conditions were fulfilled.
This appeal is amongst other appeals filed by aggrieved parties against certain judgments of the Federal High Court Abuja.
A special court of appeal panel, set up to adjudicate on the political cases in River State, led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, had reserved judgment in the consolidated appeals contesting the judgment of Justice Peter Lifu.
