JUST IN: Shocker As Appeal Court Delivers Fresh Ruling Concerning Order On Electronic Transmission Of Results

JUST IN: Shocker As Appeal Court Delivers Fresh Ruling Concerning Order On Electronic Transmission Of Results (DETAILS)

The Court of Appeal in Lagos has overturned the ruling of a Federal High Court, which had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to directly and electronically upload election results for Governorship and State Assembly elections from polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).

Justice Abubakar Umar delivered the 28-page Court of Appeal judgement on July 19, with Justices Olukayode Bada and Onyekachi Otisi concurring.

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Earlier on March 8, 2023, the Labour Party, its governorship candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and 41 others obtained a mandamus order from the Federal High Court in Lagos to compel INEC to follow the Electoral Act and its guidelines for the conduct of the elections. The order directed INEC to ensure that presiding officers at polling units paste result posters and electronically transmit results to the collation center and IReV after voting.

However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) sought to appeal the judgement and filed their notices of appeal as interested parties. The APC argued that the decision created confusion as to INEC’s power to determine the election procedure, given the conflicting decisions of different Federal High Courts. The APC also claimed that the Lagos court’s decision was an abuse of the court process, as a similar suit was already decided in Abuja.

The Court of Appeal agreed with the APC’s argument that INEC has wide discretionary powers under the Electoral Act to determine the manner of transmitting election results. It held that an order of mandamus cannot restrict INEC’s discretion.

The appellate court also considered the judgement of Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which supported INEC’s freedom to specify the method of result transmission.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal set aside the previous judgement, dismissing the suit in its entirety, and ordered each party to bear their respective costs.