A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, vacated the ex-parte order it issued restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the national voters’ register to the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC) to conduct a local government election in Kwara state on September 21.
Justice Peter Lifu, who issued the order on July 29, upon an ex-parte motion filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), vacated it while ruling on an application by KWASIEC.
Justice Lifu, in the ruling, upheld the argument by KWASIEC’s counsel, Johnson Usman (SAN), that the order, being an ex-parte one, ought to be lifted after 14 days in line with extant legal provisions.
He also dismissed the allegation of contempt of court made by the PDP against the Chairman of the KWSIEC, Okanlawon Baba.
The PDP had sought that the KWASIEC chairman be committed to prison for allegedly violating a subsisting order of the court.
Justice Lifu, in his ruling, dismissed the motion for committal filed by the PDP on the grounds that the KWASIEC Chairman was not served personally as required by law and further held that since the committal proceeding is a quash criminal one, the motion commencing it must be served personally on the alleged contemnor and not through any other party or person.
The judge held that the failure of the PDP to effect personal service on the alleged contemnor was fatal to its case and amounted to a violation of the KWASIEC Chairman’s right to a fair hearing guaranteed under Section 36 of the constitution.
According to the Judge, “I have carefully and painstakingly perused the arguments for and against the motion to commit the contemnor to prison. Where the liberty of a person is at stake, due process of law must be carefully followed.
“In the instant case, the fundamental right of the alleged contemnor to fair hearing, as enshrined in section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was breached by not serving him personally and this makes the motion for committal to prison to be liable to dismissal and is hereby dismissed,” the judge held
Following a motion ex-parte filed by the PDP, the court had, on July 29, issued an order restraining INEC from releasing the national voter register to the KWSIEC to conduct the September 21 local government elections in Kwara State.
It equally restrained KWASIEC and the state’s Attorney General from receiving, accepting, or using the national voter register or any part relating to Kwara State from the electoral body for the Council’s election in Kwara State.
The PDP had, while alleging contempt, claimed that despite the pending orders of the court, KWASIEC’s Chairman wrote two letters to political parties, one inviting them for a peace meeting and the other requesting them to submit names and photographs of their agents for the election.
After the ruling on Tuesday, Justice Lifu said he would return the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment because his court only sat on the case as a vacation court.
In the substantive case, the PDP is contending, among others, that the KWASIEC was in grievous contravention, breach, and violation of sections 9, 28, 29, and 106 of the Electoral Act 2022, Sections 20 (1) and 21 (1) of Kwara State Local Government Electoral (Amendment) Law, 2024.
The PDP claimed that all the conditions and precedents stipulated in Local Government Electoral laws in Kwara State were allegedly deliberately ignored by KWASIEC under unacceptable circumstances.
It alleged that KWASIEC had applied to INEC for the register of voters in Kwara to use the same in the conduct of the LG polls.
The party said the action was in breach and violation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the Electoral Act, 2022, as well as Kwara State Local Government Electoral (Amendment) Law, 2024
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