The Court of Appeal, Abuja on Thursday upheld the local government election conducted by Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara thereby overturning a Federal High Court judgment that ruled against the election.
It is recalled that the Action Peoples Party, APP, won in 22 of the 23 local government areas of the state in the election.
Not satisfied with the results, the All Progressives Congress, APC went to court and asked the Federal High Court to nullify the process of the election citing breach of Electoral Act. The federal high court gave judgment in their favour leading to the state government filing an appeal.
However, in its judgment on Thursday the Court of Appeal ruled that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It also held that the Electoral Act is not applicable to local government elections and clarified that the ElectorAct, which governs the conduct of elections in Nigeria, does not apply to local government elections.
