The Court of Appeal, Abuja division special panel set up to adjudicate on the political cases in Rivers State, has reserved judgment in the consolidated appeals contesting the judgment of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
A three-member panel led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi decided after counsel to parties of the appeals adopted their briefs for and against the appeals at the resumed hearing on Thursday.
Announcing this, Justice Otisi stated that a date for the judgment would be communicated to parties to the appeals saying, “The appeals are now reserved we will see you on judgment Day”.
In one of the appeals before the appellate court, bordering on the Rivers local government election, Justice Lifu in the judgment, barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from releasing the voters’ register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission for the conduct of the state local government polls which has now been conducted.
The election was held on October 5, 2024. The suit was filed by the All Progressives Congress in the state.
Justice Lifu, while delivering judgment in the suit, criticised RSIEC for setting October 5 as the election date without adhering to the relevant laws governing the conduct of the election.
He ruled that the Rivers State electoral body violated the provisions of the local government election law by failing to publish the mandatory 90-day notice before fixing the election date.
