Court vacates order stopping collation of Bauchi governorship election result

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday vacated its earlier order stopping the collation of results of the March 9 governorship election in Bauchi State.

Justice Inyang Ekwo in a judgment admits that the court lacks the jurisdiction to stop the electoral body from performing its statutory function

The Judge, therefore, ordered INEC to go ahead with the collation and announcement of the winner of the governorship election in Bauchi State

INEC had challenged the jurisdiction of the court to halt the collation of results and announcement of the winner of the governorship election in Bauchi State. Though, the commission complied with the order, particularly, on the result of the Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, it questioned the jurisdiction of the court to interfere with post-election matters.

Having upheld the preliminary objections of INEC, the court, held that going into the substantive suit will amount to a waste of the courts time.

Justice Ekwo had on 18th March stopped INEC from proceeding with the collation, conclusion and announcement of the results of the 9th March governorship election held in Bauchi State.

Meanwhile, in the supplementary election in Bauchi State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate maintained the lead in the governorship election, leaving the APC candidate and governor of the state, trailing behind.