The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned a ruling that prevented the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from providing the voters register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the conduct of the state’s local government elections held on October 5.
A three-member panel, led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, delivered a unanimous decision, stating that the Federal High Court had erred in its judgment.
The appellate court also criticized the lower court for prohibiting security agencies from providing protection during the election.
The panel ruled that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear a case concerning Rivers State’s local government elections, noting that Section 28 of the Electoral Act applies solely to federal elections, governorship, and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections.
Earlier, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court had ruled in favor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which had filed a lawsuit against the election.
The court had halted the election, citing the RSIEC’s failure to adhere to necessary legal procedures.
It found that the RSIEC had not issued the required 90-day notice before scheduling the election and had not finalized the update and revision of the voters register before setting the election date.
Justice Lifu had ordered that INEC refrain from releasing the certified voters register to RSIEC, effectively preventing the use of the register for the October 5 polls.
The APC had argued in its lawsuit that RSIEC was not authorized to compile or maintain a separate voters register and could only use the one held by INEC for the local elections.
The Court of Appeal’s decision nullified the earlier judgment and allowed the local government elections to proceed as scheduled, emphasizing that the lower court’s actions were beyond its jurisdiction.
