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A Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, has nullified the local government and councillorship elections that produced the current council chairmen in the state, declaring the exercise null and void.
The court nullified the local government elections conducted by the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) in July 2024, citing disobedience and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
The presiding judge, Justice Hillary Oshomah while delivering the judgement on Tuesday, held that the July 2024 local government and councillorship elections in the state did not conform to the provisions of the Electoral Act.
The court voided and cancelled the elections, directing the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) and the state government, listed as the 2nd and 3rd respondents, not to conduct any further local government or councillorship elections in the state except in accordance with constitutional provisions.
The court also granted most of the reliefs sought by counsel to the first plaintiff, Samuel Udeogu, represented by Hamilton Ogbodo, and the second plaintiff, Chief Mudi Erhenede, and issued consequential orders on the matter.
Meanwhile, Counsel to the first plaintiff, Hamilton Ogbodo, hailed the judgement.
Responding to the judgement, Mudi Erhenede, counsel to the second plaintiff, Isu Amaechi, recalled that a Federal High Court in Abakaliki, presided over by the late Justice Fatun Riman, had earlier nullified the 2022 local government and councillorship elections, which the state government allegedly ignored by proceeding with the swearing-in of council chairmen and councillors across the 13 local government areas and 171 wards in the state.
He noted that the 2nd and 3rd defendants had filed appeals against Justice Riman’s judgment but lost, as the appellate court upheld the earlier decision of the Federal High Court.
Erhenede commended Justice Oshomah’s ruling on the 2024 local government and councillorship elections and prayed the court to make the judgement available as soon as possible.
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