Rivers LG Election: Appeal Court Overturns Federal High Court's Judgement, Details Emerge

• The Court of Appeal has nullified the judgement that prevented INEC from releasing voters’ register for the just-concluded Rivers LG elections
• In a judgement delivered by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, the court faulted the Federal High Court for barring security agencies from providing security during the elections
• The panel held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain suit against the Rivers state LG elections

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Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

On Thursday, November 21, the Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified the Federal High Court’s decision that 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 has now been conducted.

Delivering judgement on Thursday, the special panel led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter, stating that Section 28 of the Electoral Act does not cover elections conducted by states, only federal elections, governorship and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

As reported by Channels TV, the appellate court also held that the lower court was wrong to have ordered security agencies not to carry out their constitutional duties.

Details about the Federal High Court ruling

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court had delivered judgment in a suit criticising RSIEC for fixing October 5 as the election date, thereby violating electoral law.

He ruled that RSIEC violated the law by failing to publish a 90-day notice and not completing the updating of the voters' register before fixing the date for local government elections.

This appeal was one of those filed by aggrieved parties against certain judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Federal High Court had also issued an order barring security agencies from performing their constitutional duties during the election, which the Court of Appeal countered.

Not satisfied with the decision, the Rivers State government approached the appellate court to set aside the judgement on grounds that Justice Lifu lacked the necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place.

Appeal court's judgement on Thursday

As reported by This Day, Justice Otisi subsequently set aside the judgement of Justice Lifu which ruled against the election conducted on October 5.

Celebrating the news, the commissioner for information and communication, Joe Johnson, said the judgement has confirmed that Governor Siminalayi Fubara has always made the right decisions.

Read more about Rivers crisis here:

• Rivers crisis: LP gets court backing to play defection clip of pro-Wike lawmakers
• Wike vs Fubara: INEC breaks silence on Rivers Assembly crisis
• Rivers crisis: Amid rift with Wike, Fubara invokes God’s judgement on “corrupt judges”

APC warns Fubara against blackmailing Tinubu, Wike

In another development, Legit.ng reported that the APC reacted to the recent judgment stopping allocation to Rivers state.

APC said it would stand by the court's judgment according to “Sections 120, 121, and 122" of the constitution.

The APC chairman in Rivers state, Sir Tony Okocha, said the political crisis rocking the state was between Governor Sim Fubara and Nyesom Wike.

Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.