THE planned Local Government Areas (LGAs) election in Rivers State has hit a brick wall as a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, September 30, barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing voters’ registers to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).
The court also stopped the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the State Security Service (SSS) from providing security during the election scheduled for Saturday, October 5, 2024.
The judge, Peter Lifu, issued the order on a lawsuit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A team of lawyers, including Joseph Daudu, Sebastine Hon, and Ogwu James Onoja, all senior advocates, represented the APC.
Lifu ruled that the RSIEC erred in scheduling the poll for October 5, 2024, without adhering to the necessary laws governing the election.
The judge ruled that RSIEC failed to publish the mandatory 90-day notice before setting the election date and didn’t complete the update and revision of the voter register, violating the local government election conduct law.
Besides, Lifu stated that before an election date could be set and its legality established by law, the updating and amendment of the voter registration process should be completed.
Consequently, the judge directed INEC to withhold the certified voters’ register from RSIEC until all legal requirements have been met.
He also prohibited RSIEC from utilising any voter registration obtained from INEC for the local government election scheduled for October 5.
Meanwhile, a Rivers State High Court had mandated RSIEC to conduct the election, which would produce leaders for the 23 LGAs in the state on October 5.
A reporter with the ICIR
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