By Kevin Pepple
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the recently held Rivers State Local Government polls under governor Siminilayi Fubara.
This was part of the judgement handed down by the appeal court on Thursday. The latest court verdict has now set aside an earlier judgement by the Federal High Court, which ruled against the council elections in the state.
Following the conduct of the LG elections, 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. Contending the outcome, the All Progressives Congress, APC, approached the Federal High Court to nullify the process for what it described alleged breach of Electoral Act, which it succeeded at the lower court.
In its judgement on Thursday, the appeal court ruled that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case presented by the APC, also held that the Electoral Act is not applicable to local government elections.
The Court of Appeal further stated that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the appeal filed by the APC against the conduct of the local government election in Rivers State.
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