Abuja Court Ruling On INEC Clears Uncertainties Over Enugu LG Elections

The ruling by Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja, restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from de-registering 30 political parties has brought relief to members of the parties affected in Enugu State.

The ruling brought respite to over twenty political parties and their candidates vying for the forthcoming local government elections scheduled for February 29^th in the state.

INEC’s earlier deregistration of the parties had killed the political tempo in the state as the affected parties were in limbo.

 Ken Ikeh, chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Enugu State, who spoke to THE WHISTLER said: “With this judgement, all the candidates are in a position to run the elections. The ruling this morning is the authority. The earlier decision of the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) by allowing all the political parties to run is not floored eventually.

“It is a pointer that the electoral body in the state is headed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. You can see the law from where it is hidden.”

It would be recalled that the state electoral umpire had in a letter dated 12^th February 2020 notified all the political parties for the election of their eligibility to run.

 In the letter, signed by ENSIEC’s Administrative Secretary, Tagbo Nnamah, the body had written that ‘all the candidates fielded by various political parties to run in the forthcoming local government election have been cleared, thereby qualified to contest’.

In a reaction, the State chairman of the African People’s Alliance (APA) and its chairmanship candidate in Enugu South Local Government Area, Chukwunonso Daniel Ogbeh, described the ruling as another milestone by the court.

 According to him, “By this ruling, the court has accorded common sense to the provisions of the constitution. What INEC did is quite strange. So I must commend the courage of the court for not being sentimental.

“The issue is whether the precedent has been met before deregistering them. The court acted well. INEC and state electoral bodies should accord more attention towards conducting free and fair elections. It is only free and fair elections that the performances of political parties can be aggregated and determined. That is only when the right leaders can emerge.”       

Justice Chikere in her ruling said INEC failed to counter the application by the applicants whose rights must be protected. It would be recalled that INEC deregistered 74 political parties on the ground that they performed poorly during the 2019 general elections, adding that the affected parties did not satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitutional Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).