A Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja dismissed a request made on Friday to halt the upcoming local government elections in Enugu State, scheduled for Saturday.
The application was submitted by the counsel for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, but Justice Peter Lifu ruled against it, stating that stopping the elections would not align with the interests of justice.
Justice Lifu further explained that the evidence presented regarding the delivery of hearing notices to the defendants for the day’s proceedings was insufficient.
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Referring to Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, he stressed that suspending the electoral process on September 21 would violate the principle of fair hearing.
The APC had initiated the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1325/2024, in an originating summons, naming the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC), and Nwanfor Alphonsus Onyeachonam as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants, respectively.
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Filed on September 6, the suit contained nine specific reliefs, including “a perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd defendant (ENSIEC) from conducting any election in Nigeria, including the Local Government Election in Enugu State, without the plaintiffs’ participation through their duly elected principal officer of the State Executive Committee (SEC) registered with the 1st defendant (INEC).”
The APC also sought “an order directing the 1st and 2nd defendants to recognize only the democratically elected principal officer of the party’s State Executive Committee (SEC) in Enugu State, as registered with INEC, for the execution of their constitutional and statutory duties.”
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Additionally, one of the requested reliefs called for “a perpetual injunction preventing the 3rd defendant (Onyeachonam) from presenting himself as the elected principal officer of the plaintiff’s Executive Committee in any election in Nigeria, including the Enugu State Local Government election, or from selling the plaintiff’s nomination forms or collecting payments for such sales.”
This follows a recent ruling by Justice Emeka Nwite of the FHC, who denied an ex-parte motion seeking to prevent the local government elections in Enugu.
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Instead, he ordered an accelerated hearing of the case and approved the substituted service of court documents to the defendants, along with shortened timelines.
The case was later reassigned to Justice Peter Lifu after being returned to the chief judge, Justice John Tsoho.
