The Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has nullified the July 2024 local government and councillorship elections that produced the current 13 council chairmen and councillors in the state. Justice H.I.O. Oshomah delivered the judgment on Tuesday, ruling that the conduct of the polls by the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act, rendering the elections invalid.
The court ordered EBSIEC and the state government not to conduct any further council polls except in strict accordance with the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act. This ruling followed a suit filed by plaintiffs Mr. Samuel Udeogu and Mr. Isu Amaechi, represented by their counsel, Hamilton Ogbodo and Chief Mudi Erhenede, respectively.
Ogbodo stated that the ruling effectively dismissed all serving local government chairmen and councillors in the state. He emphasized that the local government election conducted in July 2024 is now null and void.
Erhenede noted that the ruling reaffirmed a previous judgment by the late Justice Fatun Riman, which had also nullified the 2022 local government elections in the state—a decision that the government had ignored by swearing in chairmen and councillors. He criticized the state’s defiance of the rule of law, stating that today’s ruling reaffirmed that such illegality cannot stand.
