The local government and councillorship elections that produced the state’s current council chairmen were annulled by a Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, the state capital, on Tuesday, with the ruling ruling deeming the process unconstitutional.
Indicted for disobedience and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the court overturned the local government elections that the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) conducted in July 2024.
Justice Hillary Oshomah, the presiding judge, determined that the state’s Electoral Act’s provisions for local government and council elections in July 2024 were insufficient.
In response, the court ordered the state government, which were listed as the second and third respondents, to hold elections for local government or councillors in the state in accordance with constitutional guidelines.
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Additionally, the court issued consequential orders in the matter and granted the majority of the reliefs requested by counsel to Chief Mudi Erhenede and Samuel Udeogu, both of whom represented Hamilton Ogbodo.
Hamilton Ogbodo, the first plaintiff’s attorney, applauded the decision.
The local government election that took place in Ebonyi State in July of 2024 has been canceled by this Federal High Court as of right now.
The second and third defendants must revert to the court’s order and follow the law’s instructions if they want to do what the law directs them to do. But we are anticipating it because the deadline for them to appeal this decision is still up, and we will know what to do when it expires.
We anticipate that they will follow the court’s instructions. The court has revoked the local government chairmen. Because these things are in black and white, the court has carried out exactly what the law requires.
“You try to read the law the way you want, so that it can serve your own goals,” said Obobodo.
The second plaintiff, Isu Amaechi, whose attorney Mudi Erhenede recalled that a Federal High Court in Abakaliki, led by the late Justice Fatun Riman, had earlier annulled the state’s alleged failure to swear in the swearing-in of council chairmen and councillors across the state’s 13 local government areas and 171 wards.
He noted that the second and third defendants had filed appeals against Justice Riman’s decision but lost because the appellate court upheld the Federal High Court’s earlier decision.
People who don’t want to believe in or uphold the rule of law should do this.
He claimed that the state had omitted some candidates from the 2022 local government election after the Federal High Court had disqualified them.
Source: Channels TV
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