In the lawsuit brought by the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the way local government elections were handled in Rivers State, the Federal High Court in Abuja has deferred its decision.
A date for the ruling will be sent to the parties involved in the lawsuit, according to Justice Peter Lifu.
On Thursday, after attorneys for all sides presented their respective cases in favor of and against the lawsuit, the judge set aside a date for the judgment.
The court heard all pending preliminary petitions on Thursday, including those for joinder filed by the Boot Party (BP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in addition to the main lawsuit.
Chief Goddy Uche, SAN, filed a move for a change of counsel, while the Rivers State chapter of the APC filed a motion to discontinue the litigation. Both applications were heard by the court in equal measure.
Uche submitted and presented arguments in support of a move to discontinue the lawsuit, which was signed by Sam Sam Etetegwung, Secretary of APC Rivers State, and Chief Emeka Beke, Chairman of APC Rivers State, on August 28.
While Taiwo Taiwo, SAN, representing the Attorney General of Rivers State, and Femi Falana, SAN, representing the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, all contested the court’s jurisdiction to hear the case, Joseph Daudu, SAN, leading six Senior Advocates of Nigeria, including Dr. James Ogwu Onoja, moved the court to grant the reliefs sought by the plaintiff.
The attorneys for the respondents contested the suit’s competency on the grounds that it was prohibited by statute.
Additionally, the respondents’ attorney contended that the Federal High Court’s Rivers State division is the appropriate court with jurisdiction to hear the case.
It was also their contention that the court, functioning as a vacation court, lacked the authority to hear the matter without the parties’ assent.
On the substance, the plaintiff’s attorney claimed that RSIEC had failed to comply with the precedent set forth for the conduct of local government elections in Rivers State.
The plaintiff had come before the court on August 28 with a notice of discontinuance signed by Sam Sam Etetegwung, the secretary of APC Rivers State, and Chief Emeka Beke, the chairman of the organization.
The party is requesting a declaration that INEC must oversee the update and revision of the register in order to guarantee that the process ends no later than 90 days prior to the council election. The summons is an original document with the markings FHC/ABJ/CS/987/2024.
