The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has overturned a ruling by the Federal High Court in Kano that halted the conduct of local government elections in the state, declaring that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case.
In a judgment delivered on Friday by Justice Oyewumi, the appellate court held that the Federal High Court exceeded its constitutional authority by intervening in matters related to the conduct of local government elections, which are exclusively under the jurisdiction of state governments.
With this ruling, the Court of Appeal upheld the appeal filed by the Kano State Government, thereby nullifying the earlier decision and affirming the legality of the local government elections held in the state.
The case originated from a suit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Federal High Court in Kano in October 2024. In the suit, the APC sought to stop the scheduled LG elections, alleging that the Chairman of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC), Professor Sani Lawal Malumfashi, and some commissioners were card-carrying members of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)—a situation they claimed compromised the neutrality of the electoral body.
Just three days before the scheduled polls, Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court ruled in favor of the APC, dissolving the leadership of KANSIEC and restraining the commission from conducting the elections.
Despite the court’s directive, KANSIEC proceeded with the polls on October 26, 2024.
Following the elections, the APC dismissed the process as illegal and a violation of the court’s ruling. However, the recent decision by the Court of Appeal has effectively reversed that position, upholding the legality of the elections conducted by KANSIEC.
