Following a previous judgement given in Lagos on March 8, a Federal High Court in Abuja issued an injunction on Friday directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State to electronically transfer the results of the gubernatorial and house of assembly elections held on Saturday in conformity with its rules and policies.
In a ruling, Judge Obiora Egwuatu further mandated the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to send a scanned copy of the EC8A to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) as soon as the voting and results procedures for all polling units in Akwa Ibom are complete.
After finishing the EC8A result sheets for the state, the judge further ordered the commission to prominently paste the publication of its result posters, model EC60(E), at polling units.
In addition, he directed INEC to enforce Section 27(1) of the Electoral Act of 2022 in the distribution of electoral materials during the conduct of the elections in the state by hiring the services of impartial, capable, and dependable logistic companies that are not partisan or known to be supporters of any political party for the distribution of electoral materials and personnel.
According to Egwuatu, accepting the petitioners’ requests will not hurt the commission’s operation, but rather energise it and help it fulfil its legal obligations, as the electoral umpire had stated in its filed affidavit.
The Labour Party (LP) and Uduakobong Udoh, its candidate for governor of Akwa Ibom, as well as 13 candidates for the state’s House of Assembly in the March 18 elections, filed the lawsuit that resulted to the judge’s decision.
In the original summons, which was dated and submitted on March 15 by the applicants’ solicitor Moses Usoh-Abia, INEC was named as the only respondent.
The applicants, who requested seven reliefs, prayed the court for an order of mandamus compelling INEC and all its agents to adhere to and uphold the provisions of Clause 37 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of the Governorship and House of Assembly Elections in Akwa Ibom on Saturday.
Additionally, they asked the court to order the presiding officers of every polling place to prominently post the publication of results posters EC460(E) at the polling place after finishing the EC8A result sheets.
They requested a mandamus order compelling the commission to require the presiding officers of all polling units in the state to electronically transmit or transfer the results of the polling units, direct to the collation system, and use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) as soon as all polling units voting and results procedures are complete.
As far as they were concerned, this complied with the requirements of Section 38 of the rules for the polling process.
The applicants also requested an order directing INEC to enforce the compliance with Section 27(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 in the distribution of electoral materials during the conduct of the elections by hiring the services of impartial, capable, and dependable logistic companies that are not partisan or open supporters of any political for the distribution of electoral materials and personnel, among other reliefs.
After an ex-parte application was made by Usoh-Abia on Wednesday, Judge Egwuatu approved the applicants’ request for permission to proceed with a judicial review, filed the necessary motion, and notified INEC.
Usoh-Abia revealed that he had cooperated with the prior court order and that their motion had been served on INEC that same Wednesday during the matter’s resumed hearing on Friday.
But, the commission was not represented in court, the solicitor claimed, despite serving the commission with their process.
However, the judge said that he had seen INEC’s counter-affidavit and a preliminary objection to their initial summons in the court file.
He claimed that on Thursday, the application was submitted.
Usoh-Abia said that he was prepared to handle the situation owing to the urgency of the case even if they had not yet received service from the commission.
The motion, which was dated March 15, had a 26-paragraph affidavit and nine exhibits, according to him.
The solicitor sought the court to instruct the electoral umpire to abide by its rules and directives of Clauses 37 and 38 on the conduct of the elections.
The commission, according to him, failed to send the results of the elections in the state and across the nation on February 25 when the Presidential and National Assembly elections were held.
According to his argument, Sections 148 and 60(5) of the Electoral Act of 2022 required INEC to establish regulations and guidelines to provide guidance for conducting elections and compiling election results, among other things.
Usoh-Abia claimed that because INEC disregarded the law, there had been substantial discrimination committed against them and his customers at their various polling places and wards.
If the order was not given, the solicitor claimed the same thing would happen again at the election on Saturday.
The suit was deemed incompetent and the court lacked jurisdiction to hear it, according to INEC’s preliminary objection.
According to the commission, the petitioners had not proven that they had a legitimate cause of action against it.
Furthermore, it stated that by initiating the lawsuit through an initial summons, the petitioners had violated the practise directive.
The applicant’s compliance with the practise direction regulations in the filing of their application satisfied Judge Egwuatu, who gave the ruling.
In addition, he stated that based on the paragraphs of the applicants’ process, a cause of action against INEC had been created.
In light of this, the judge instructed INEC to instruct all of its presiding officers to adhere to Clauses 37 and 38 of its regulations and guidelines for the conduct of tomorrow’s election in Akwa Ibom.
According to him, the commission was required by law to follow the rules.
Some relief requests were denied by the judge, nevertheless.
On March 8, the Independent National Electoral Commission was ordered by the Federal High Court in Lagos to electronically and directly transfer the results of the upcoming governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Lagos State from the polling places to the IReV.
The Labour Party and 41 other parties had sued, seeking a mandamus order to compel INEC to follow the Electoral Act and its rules for the conduct of the elections. Justice Peter Lifu issued the order in his judgement on the case.
The judge determined that because the lawsuit was filed in conformity with the law’s provisions, the court had the authority to hear it.
Additionally, he determined that the relief requested by the applicants has nothing to do with election administration and instead deals with election preparation.
The applicants’ only goal, according to Justice Lifu, was to force the electoral board to observe the Constitution, its rules, and directives after it did not during the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25.
On Thursday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Lagos State applied for leave to appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lagos directing INEC to electronically transmit Saturday’s election results.
