Supreme Court Nullifies Rivers LG Elections

Supreme Court nullifies Rivers LG elections over electoral law violations.
Court rules RSIEC failed to meet legal conditions before the elections.
INEC barred from providing voter register until legal requirements are met.

The Supreme Court, on Friday, annulled the results of the Local Government Elections held in Rivers State on October 5, 2024, ruling that the electoral process did not comply with legal requirements.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the five-member panel, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, delivered a unanimous verdict in favor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which had challenged the validity of the elections. The apex court overturned the November 21, 2024, judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which had previously upheld the elections.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Jamilu Tukur, the Supreme Court held that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) failed to meet the mandatory conditions outlined in Section 150(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010, before conducting the elections.

The court reinstated an earlier decision by the Federal High Court in Abuja, which had barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from providing the voters’ register to RSIEC for the polls.

It was recalled that the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, had ruled that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case against the elections. The appellate court also criticized the lower court’s decision to prevent security agencies from providing security during the polls.

However, the Supreme Court disagreed, affirming that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court acted within his jurisdiction when he ruled that RSIEC failed to adhere to the 90-day mandatory notice required before setting the election date. Justice Lifu also noted that the voters’ register update and revision should have been completed before the elections were scheduled.

Based on these findings, the Supreme Court upheld the earlier ruling that prohibited INEC from providing the certified voters’ register to RSIEC. It also reaffirmed that RSIEC could not accept or use any voter register from INEC until the necessary legal conditions were met.

With this ruling, the Supreme Court has effectively invalidated the Rivers State local government elections, throwing the state’s political landscape into uncertainty.