A Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja dismissed an application on Friday aimed at preventing the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) from proceeding with Saturday’s local government elections.
In a ruling on the oral application presented by All Progressives Congress (APC) counsel, Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, Justice Peter Lifu stated that halting the elections would not serve the interests of justice.
Justice Lifu also indicated that there was inadequate evidence regarding the delivery of hearing notices to the defendants for today’s proceedings.
Citing Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, the judge emphasized that restraining the electoral body from conducting the elections on September 21 would infringe upon the principle of fair hearing.
In the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1325/2024, the APC filed suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), ENSIEC, and Nwanfor Alphonsus Onyeachonam, designated as the 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively.
Dated September 5 but filed on September 6, the APC sought nine specific reliefs.
These included “a perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd defendant (ENSIEC) from conducting any election in Nigeria, including the Local Government Election in Enugu State, without the plaintiffs’ participation through their duly elected principal officer of the State Executive Committee (SEC) registered with the 1st defendant (INEC).
Additionally, the APC sought “an order directing the 1st and 2nd defendants to recognize only the democratically elected principal officer of the party’s State Executive Committee (SEC) in Enugu State, as registered with INEC, for the execution of their constitutional and statutory duties.”
Another requested relief was “a perpetual injunction preventing the 3rd defendant (Onyeachonam) from presenting himself as the elected principal officer of the plaintiff’s Executive Committee in any election in Nigeria, including the Enugu State Local Government election, or from selling the plaintiff’s nomination forms or collecting payments for such sales.”
Recently, Justice Emeka Nwite of the FHC had denied an ex-parte motion to stop the Enugu State local government elections. Instead, he granted an accelerated hearing of the case and ordered the substituted service of court documents on the defendants, along with a request for shortened timelines.
Ultimately, the matter was reassigned to Justice Peter Lifu after being returned to the chief judge, Justice John Tsoho.
