A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN Onueze Okocha, has weighed in on the ongoing legal battle surrounding the Rivers State Local government election. He alleged that the recent Federal High Court ruling that halted the election is the order that will prevail, given its higher jurisdiction than the state High Court.
He pointed out that the state High Court’s interim order on September 5th was flawed, as it did not have all the relevant parties before it, resulting in a lack of completeness in the jurisdiction exercised. He emphasized that the Federal High Court’s later judgment, which involved all the parties, takes precedence. He explained that when a court considers a matter, it does so based on the facts presented, and in the case of the election, critical factors such as the voters’ register and security are crucial. He noted that the state High Court’s judgment did not consider these essential elements, whereas the Federal High Court’s ruling did.
He said in an interview with Channels TV from 24:03, ‘The state high court that made an interim order on the 5th of September did not have all these parties before it. And for the completeness of the jurisdiction exercised by the state High Court, you will see that there are some lacuna in the matter but the federal high court in a later judgment has everyone involved in it and the position of the law is clear.
The latest order made by a court of competent jurisdiction is the order that will apply. When a court looks at a matter, it looks at it based on the facts placed before it. When you are talking about conduct of election, you are talking about voters register and you are talking about security. You are talking about the state agency holding an election in respect of which they need federal agencies to support that election. The September 5th Judgement from the State High Court did not have all the parties involved in it before it gave that order.”