Following a lawsuit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC), a Federal High Court in Abuja has prevented the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from providing the voters’ register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the local government elections scheduled for October 5, 2024.
The ruling was made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu.
The court also prohibited the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Department of State Services (DSS) from offering security services to the area.
The APC was represented by Senior Advocates of Nigeria: Joseph Daudu, Sebastine Hon, and Ogwu James Onoja.
Justice Lifu ruled that the RSIEC acted prematurely in setting the October 5 election date, judging that it did so without adhering to the necessary legal requirements.
Specifically, the court found that the Rivers State electoral body had failed to comply with provisions of the local government election law, particularly the requirement to publish a 90-day notice prior to the election.
Meanwhile, the updated and revised voters register must be completed before setting a legally valid election date which was not completed. As a result, Justice Lifu ordered the INEC to not provide the certified voters register to RSIEC until all legal stipulations are met.
RSIEC was similarly instructed not to accept or use any voters’ register from INEC for the October 5 local government elections.
The RSIEC had announced the date for the local government election in July following the expiration of the tenure of the 23 local government chairman and councilors. The announcement had been met with discord from some of the chairmen.
The court ruling however now puts a hold to the local government election in the state.
