Justice Makmud Liman of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has declared that results of rerun elections in Rivers State where voting was suspended on 19th of March should be announced at the end of the rescheduled polls on Saturday.
The order by Justice Liman covers Eleme, Gokana, Khana, Tai, Bonny and Andoni local government areas.
The ruling was based on a matter instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party, challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission on the declaration of the result for the rerun election in Tai Local Government Area.
DAILY POST reports that the court did not any categorical statement on whether fresh rerun elections should hold across Tai.
However, Justice Liman declared that the APC cannot claim victory in Tai since INEC was yet to issue a certificate of return to its candidate.
The Judge also held that only the Independent National Electoral Commission can announce the result of any election, and not political parties.
The presiding judge also ruled that INEC lacked the power to postpone election indefinitely, just as he berated the electoral commission over shoddy preparation for elections in the country.
Justice Mahkmud Liman urged all parties in the matter to be guided by the Constitution and the Electoral Act.
The judgment by Justice Liman was given diverse interpretations by lawyers to the two main political parties involved in the matter, Baride Wezia for the APC and Dike Udenna for the PDP.
Wezia told newsmen outside the court room that, “The Judge has done justice to the matter, the decision of the court favours my client because he has ordered the INEC to conclude elections in the remaining three wards in Tai Local government and we believe the INEC will do just that.”
On his part, Udenna said, “What the court has simply said is that elections should be held afresh. The court upheld our first and fifth prayers. The fifth prayer was only modified by the court to say that INEC should not go ahead to release contrived figures, results that were cook-up in the house.”
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Aniedi Ikoiwak, had announced at a stakeholders’ forum in Port Harcourt that rerun elections will be conducted in only twelve polling units in Tai Local Government Area.
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