Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja on Wednesday refused to grant a request by the African Action Congress (AAC), Messrs Biokpomabo Awara and Ben-Gurion Peter seeking to stop the collation of results of Rivers State Governorship and House of Assembly election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 9, 2019.
The plaintiffs had prayed the court to stop INEC from resuming collation and conclusion of the March 9 election results in Rivers State and from declaring any person or group as winners of the poll.
They specifically applied for an order compelling the electoral body to maintain the inconclusiveness of the election as announced earlier.
Defendants in the ex parte application are the INEC and People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In a bench ruling, Ekwo who refused to grant the application held that the reliefs sought by the applicants are “such that the court cannot grant without hearing from the other party”.
The judge however ordered the plaintiffs to put the respondents on notice to come and show cause why the prayers of the plaintiffs should not be granted.
The judge subsequently adjourned till March 25 for parties to address him on the propriety or otherwise of granting the order.
The plaintiffs represented by Tawo Tawo, in an ex parte application moved in the court Wednesday, prayed for an order to stop INEC from going ahead to resume, conclude and announce the results of the March 9 election.
Earlier, Ekwo had drawn the attention of the plaintiffs’ counsel to social media reports to the effect that he had already stopped the electoral body from going ahead to take further action on the March 9, governorship and house of assembly elections in Rivers State.
While stating that there is no judge by the name Inyang Ewa, who was alleged to have granted the purported order, he warned counsel and litigants from spreading false news.
He said it was wrong for anybody or group to resort to self help because such self help had been prohibited in the judiciary.
It would be recalled that INEC had last week following the report of its fact finding committee on Rivers election fixed Wednesday, March 20, for the resumption of collation, conclusion and announcement of the remaining results in the election.
The commission had suspended the electoral process after some military personnel and armed men invaded its collation center in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In announcing the resumption of collation of the results, INEC said it had in its custody results from 17 local government areas.
Consequently upon the announcement, the AAC, Awara and Peter, filed an ex parte application before the court, seeking to stop INEC from resuming collation of the election results.
