The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has welcomed the recent judgment delivered by the Special Court of Appeal Panel set up to address political cases in Rivers State.
In a statement on Friday, the APC’s State Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju, expressed satisfaction with the judgment of the three-man panel led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, which set aside the ruling of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, concerning the local government elections in the state.
Justice Lifu, in his judgment on September 30, barred the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from releasing the voter register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, for the purpose of conducting the local government poll.
The judge also barred the Inspector General of Police and the Department of State Services, DSS, from providing security during the election.
However, the Appeal Court ruled that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
In the statement by Nwauju, he emphasized that Justice Lifu’s judgment could have disrupted council elections already conducted in states like Kwara, Anambra, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Abia, Cross River, and Kano, which relied on their State Independent Electoral Commission, SIEC, laws.
Nwauju praised the Appeal Court’s decision, noting that it corrected Justice Lifu’s interpretation of the Constitution, which sought to impose INEC laws over SIEC without any constitutional amendment.
The APC’s statement also criticized Justice Lifu’s September 30, 2024, judgment, particularly his directive that security agencies should not provide security during the local government elections in Rivers State.
The party, therefore, called for a thorough investigation by judicial authorities.
The case was instituted by Tony Okocha, the now-dismissed caretaker committee chairman of the APC in the state, who cited pending issues related to the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The APC in the state, led by its chairman Emeka Beke, had condemned what it described as “unpatriotic moves” initiated by Okocha and his allies, accusing them of “using the APC as a front to pursue legal actions that could have denied Rivers State its federal allocations and harmed local government workers and civil servants.”