THE Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC, has been ordered to directly and electronically upload the results of the forthcoming governorship and State House of Assembly elections in Lagos State from the polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal – IReV.
The Labour Party and 41 others had sought an order of Mandamus to compel INEC to obey the Electoral Act and its guidelines for the conduct of the elections, which has now been rescheduled for March 18, 2023.
In his judgement, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Lagos, granted the order, saying that the court possessed the jurisdiction to entertain the suit because it commenced in accordance with the provisions of the law.
He also held that the subject matter of the suit is not a pre-election issue because the reliefs sought by the applicants deal with the preparation of the elections and not the conduct of the elections.
He noted that all the applicants were trying to do was to compel the electoral body to comply with the Constitution, its regulations, and guidelines which it failed to do during the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023.
