The Supreme Court has placed on hold its verdict on an appeal by the All Progressives Congress, APC, filed to nullify the outcome of the local government elections held in Rivers State on October 5, 2024.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, okayed the matter for judgement, after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.

While the APC, through its lawyer, Mr. J. B. Daudu, SAN, urged the Supreme Court to set aside the November 21, 2024, judgement of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which declined to invalidate the election, Mr. Yusuf Ali, SAN, who announced appearance for Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Chief Chris Uche, SAN, who is counsel to the
Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, urged the court to dismiss the appeal.

It will be recalled that the appellate court vacated the judgement that barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the voter register to the RSIEC for the conduct of LG polls.

A special panel of the appellate court had faulted the Federal High Court in Abuja for barring security agencies from providing security during the elections.

The Justice Onyekachi Otisi-led panel had, in a unanimous decision, held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain a suit against the Rivers State LG elections.

According to the appellate court, section 28 of the Electoral Act does not cover elections conducted by states but only federal elections, governorship, and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory.

Justice Peter Lifu of the high court had, on the strength of a suit that was filed by the APC, stopped the conduct of the Rivers State LG election.

The trial court held that the RSIEC erred by fixing a date for the conduct of polls in the 23 local government areas without strict compliance with relevant laws guiding such elections.

Besides, he held that the update and revision of the voters register to be used for the election ought to have been concluded before any valid date could be fixed for the polls.

Justice Lifu ordered INEC not to make the certified voters register available to RSIEC, pending when the relevant laws were complied with.

He further barred RSIEC from accepting any voters register from INEC or using the same for the purpose of the LG polls.

Vanguard

A family clash which occurred Saturday morning at the funeral rite of 78-year-old Emmanuel Agbozo, popularly known as “Nil oo Nii”, in Nkurakan, Yilo Krobo Municipality, Eastern Region, made it impossible for the deceased to be buried.

As the funeral took a dramatic turn, it took the police’s intervention and escort for the deceased’s body, which was lying in state, to be returned to a private mortuary at Huhunya, a nearby community.

According to Ghana Web, an attempt to prevent one of the deceased’s children from participating in the funeral rites led to the clash.

Family members accused the individual of abandoning his now-deceased father during his illness and failed to visit him.

Also, the late Agbozo, before his demise, had explicitly instructed the family not to allow the son to attend his funeral.

The violent confrontation stemmed as the family members attempted to enforce this directive by the deceased, leading to a clash with the son who brought some young men to fight the family.

This led to property destruction, and injuries before Police reinforcements were called in to restore order.

The Police, in order to ensure peace and prevent further escalation, ordered the body to be returned to the mortuary, and the funeral was suspended indefinitely.

Suspects involved in the clash are currently assisting the police with investigations. (Nigerian Tribune)

A five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji has quashed the appeal filed by the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, challenging the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule.

Justice Uwani Abba-Aji while dismissing the appeal awarded a cost of two million naira against the governor payable to the Rivers State House of Assembly as the first respondent and Martin Amaewhule as the second respondent.

The dismissal of the appeal by Fubara was hinged on the withdrawal of the suit by his counsel, Yusuf Ali.

Details shortly…

[Channels TV]