The Supreme Court has ruled that the local government election held in Rivers State on October 5, 2024, is invalid, illegal, and void.

The election, which was won by the All Peoples Party (APP), was declared unlawful due to non-compliance with legal requirements.

Justice Jamilu Tukur, who delivered the judgment, stated that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) did not follow the necessary legal steps before organizing the election. He explained that the poll violated Section 150 of the Electoral Act 2022.

Earlier, a Federal High Court in Abuja had ruled against the election. On September 30, 2024, Justice Peter Lifu barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from providing the voter register to RSIEC.

He also stopped the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the election.

Justice Lifu pointed out several legal violations by RSIEC, including:

• Wrong Election Date: The election date was set without following legal guidelines.
• No 90-Day Notice: The mandatory 90-day notice before the election was not published.
• Incomplete Voter Register Update: The voter register update was not completed before the election date was fixed.

Due to these violations, the judge ordered INEC not to release the voter register to RSIEC until all legal requirements were met. He also ruled that RSIEC must not accept or use any voter register for the October 5, 2024 election.