A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, September 5, reserved judgment in the suit by the All Progressives Congress, (APC) against the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) and others over the planned conduct of local government election in Rivers state.
Justice Peter Lifu, after listening to lawyers to parties on the matter, announced that a date for the judgment would be duly communicated to them.
Addressing the court in his final submission, Joseph Daudu (SAN), who led six other Senior Advocates for the plaintiff, prayed the court to grant the reliefs sought in the substantive suit.
Daudu also prayed the court to disregard the counter-arguments by the defendants, including the Attorney General of Rivers State who was represented by Tawo Tawo, (SAN) and the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) represented by Femi Falana (SAN).
Tawo Tawo and Femi Falana, in their various submissions, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case and the competence of the suit, notiing that it was statute barred.
They argued that the proper court with jurisdiction to hear the case is the Federal High Court sitting in Rivers State and contended that the court, sitting as a vacation court, lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case in the absence of the consent of both parties.
The APC is querying INEC’s readiness for the election, contending that the condition precedent for conduct of LG election in the state was not yet met by RSIEC as required.
The plaintiff, among others, want that court to declare that INEC was bound to manage the updating and revision of the voters’ register in such a way as to ensure that the process stops not later than 90 days before the day of the election.
The court had earlier heard all other preliminary applications, which were taken along with the substantive suit some of which were those by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Boot Party (BP) who sought to be made parties to the suit.
The motions filed by Goddy Uche (SAN) for change of counsel and another seeking the discontinuance of the suit on behalf of the APC in Rivers State were also heard.
