Taiwo Popoola
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the recent Rivers State Local Government elections.
The election was conducted by the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
According to Sahara Reporters, this was contained in a judgement delivered by the court on Thursday, thereby overturning an earlier judgement by the Federal High Court, which ruled against the council election.
Urban Express News Online had reported that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC had declared the Action Peoples Party (APP) winner in 22 out of the 23 local government areas in the State
However, dissatisfied with the results, the All-Progressives Congress, APC, approached the Federal High Court to nullify the process for alleged breach of Electoral Act, which it succeeded at the lower court.
However, the appeal court ruled that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case presented by the APC.
The court also held that the Electoral Act is not applicable to local government elections.
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal stated that the Federal High Court did not have the jurisdiction to entertain the appeal filed by the APC against the conduct of the local government election in Rivers State.
The court further clarified that the Electoral Act, which governs the conduct of elections in Nigeria, does not apply to local government elections.
