Court Nullifies Ebonyi 2024 Council Polls

The Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, has nullified the July 2024 local government chairmanship and councilorship elections, which produced the current administration in the state’s 13 LGAs.

The court, headed by Justice H.I.O. Oshomah, held that the July 2024 elections didn’t conform with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

It therefore voided and cancelled the elections and asked the Ebonyi State Independent National Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) and the state government, which are the second and third respondents, not to conduct further local government and councilorship elections in the state except in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

The court granted most of the reliefs sought by counsel for the first plaintiff, Hamilton Ogbodo, and the second plaintiff, Chief Mudi Erhenede, granted a consequential order on the matter.

Hamilton Ogbodo, counsel to the 1st plaintiff, Samuel Udeogu, hailed the judgment.

“So, in effect, the local government election conducted in July 2024 in Ebonyi State is no longer there; it has been cancelled by this federal high court today.

“If the 2nd and 3rd defendants want to do what the law says they should do, they should revert to status quo ante bellum and then obey the court order, but we are waiting for them because the time within which they can appeal this judgment is still running, and when it expires, we will know what to do.

“We expect them to obey the court order. A court order has sacked the local government chairmen. The court has done precisely what the law says it should do because these things are in black and white.

He said, “When you don’t want to obey the law, you know, read it the way you want so that it can serve your own goals.”

On his part, Mudi Erhenede, counsel to Isu Amaechi, the second plaintiff in the matter, said the federal high court sitting in Abakaliki, presided over by the late Justice Fatun Rilman, had nullified the 2022 local government and councilorship elections, which the state government didn’t obey but went ahead and swore in people as elected council chairmen and councilors across the 13 Local Governments and 171 wards in the state.

He noted that the second and third defendants filed appeals against Justice Fatun Rilman, which they lost following the upholding of his federal high court judgment.

“This is a question of people who don’t want to believe in and obey the rule of law.

“The federal high court nullified the local government election conducted in 2022 and the state, in defiance of that judgement, proceeded to swear in some persons as local government chairmen”, he said.

He hailed Tuesday’s Justice Oshomah court ruling on the 2024 local government and councilorship elections in the state and urged the court to make the judgment available as soon as possible.