A Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, on Tuesday nullified the local government and councillorship elections that produced the current council chairmen in the state, declaring the exercise unconstitutional.

The court nullified the local government elections conducted by the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) in July 2024, citing disobedience and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

The presiding judge, Justice Hillary Oshomah, held that the July 2024 local government and councillorship elections in the state did not conform to the provisions of the Electoral Act.

Consequently, the court voided and cancelled the elections, directing the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) and the state government, listed as the 2nd and 3rd respondents, not to conduct any further local government or councillorship elections in the state except in accordance with constitutional provisions.

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The court also granted most of the reliefs sought by counsel to the first plaintiff, Samuel Udeogu, represented by Hamilton Ogbodo, and the second plaintiff, Chief Mudi Erhenede, and issued consequential orders on the matter.

Counsel to the first plaintiff, Hamilton Ogbodo, hailed the judgement.

“So, in effect, the local government election that was conducted in July 2024 in Ebonyi State is no longer there; it has been cancelled by this Federal High Court today.

“If the 2nd and 3rd defendants want to do what the law says they should do, they should revert to status quo ante bellum and obey the court order. But we are waiting for them, because the time within which they can appeal this judgement is still running, and when it expires, we will know what to do.

“We expect them to obey the court order. The local government chairmen have been sacked by the order of the court. The court has done exactly what the law says it should do, because these things are in black and white.

“It is when you don’t want to obey the law that you try to read it the way you want, so that it can serve your own goals,” Ogbodo said.

On his part, Mudi Erhenede, counsel to the second plaintiff, Isu Amaechi, recalled that a Federal High Court in Abakaliki, presided over by the late Justice Fatun Riman, had earlier nullified the 2022 local government and councillorship elections, which the state government allegedly ignored by proceeding with the swearing-in of council chairmen and councillors across the 13 local government areas and 171 wards in the state.

He noted that the 2nd and 3rd defendants had filed appeals against Justice Riman’s judgment but lost, as the appellate court upheld the earlier decision of the Federal High Court.

“This is a question of people who don’t want to believe in the rule of law or obey it.

The Federal High Court nullified the local government election conducted in 2022, yet the state, in defiance of that judgement, proceeded to swear in some persons as local government chairmen,” he said.

Erhenede commended Justice Oshomah’s ruling on the 2024 local government and councillorship elections and urged the court to make the judgement available as soon as possible.