The Court of Appeal in Abuja has scheduled April 8 to hear and determine cases arising from the conduct of elections across the 44 Local Government Areas of Kano State.
This decision comes after the court resolved multiple motions that were filed alongside the substantive matters.
Meanwhile, the Kano State House of Assembly has urged the appellate court to overturn the ruling of the Federal High Court in Kano, which had previously halted the elections since October last year.
Represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Adegboyega Awomolo, the House of Assembly argues that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to interfere in matters related to local government elections.
Awomolo further contended that “the suit filed by one Aminu Tiga and the All Progressives Congress (APC) was statute-barred at the time it was filed, and that the two plaintiffs have no locus standing to have instituted the case.”
The Federal High Court’s ruling, delivered by Justice Simon Amobeda on October 22, 2024, had restrained the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission from proceeding with elections for local government chairmen and councillors.
The judge ruled that the electoral body’s members were “established card-carrying members of the ruling New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Kano State, contrary to Section 197 and 200 of the 1999 Constitution.”
Additionally, Justice Amobeda directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “not to release any part of the national voter register to Kano State to conduct the local government polls.”
He also barred the police, the Department of State Services (DSS), and other security agencies from providing security or participating in any local government election in the state.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the Kano State House of Assembly has now turned to the Court of Appeal, seeking to have the judgment set aside.
The lawmakers insist that “the local government election conduct is entirely the affairs of the Kano State Government and that it is the Kano State High Court that can adjudicate over any matter arising from local government election conduct and not the Federal High Court.”
