Judgment on FCT councils’ inauguration: Court vacates order

Chairmen and Councillors-elect in the Federal Capital Territory are now to heave a sigh of relief as a High Court on Thursday vacated its earlier order suspending the swearing-in of the elected council officials.

A Federal High Court sitting in Kubwa and presided over by Justice Mohammed Ibrahim had on May, 18, 2022 suspended the swearing in of the newly elected Chairmen and Councillors of the six Area councils following a suit brought before it by some outgoing Councillors.

The plaintiff urged the court to stop the Minister from swearing in the elected council officials following a provision of the new Electoral Act which extended the tenure of elected officials from three to four years in the country.

Persecondnews earlier reported that the Minister in obedience to the court order suspended the inauguration ceremony fixed for May, 20, 2022.

The tenures of the officials, who were inaugurated on May 20, 2019, expired on May 19, 2022 and in a bid to swear in the new leaders, some councillors went to court to stop the Minister.

On May 18, 2022, a High Court suspended the swearing-in of the elected chairmen and the councillors, a development that created  confusion and stopped the swear in the winners of the local council elections conducted in February, 2022.

When the case came up on Thursday for further hearing, Justice Ibrahim reversed himself, clarifying that everybody is in a learning process, “that persons are bound to make mistakes and also bound to make corrections”.

“It is very clear that some mistakes were made and a judgment was entered, which brought a lot of issues concerning the elongation of the tenure of the outgoing chairmen in the six area councils.”

Justice Ibrahim further said that in his wisdom, he has vacated that first order that was given by him and thereby directed that the area council chairmen who were elected and issued a certificate of return be sworn in by the FCT Minister.

In his reaction, Mr Emmanuel Iyang, spokesperson for Campaign Council and AMAC Chairman-Elect, explained that the battle has been on for some time which made the Chief Judge of the FCT to direct the matter back to the same court that initially issued the first judgment.

“We want to thank the FCT Minister who saw that something went wrong, first he respected the judgment of the court by suspending the swearing-in, which was very right and thereafter asked the court to review its judgment.

“Today, based on that redress in court, the judgment has been vacated and by His grace, the area council chairmen will also be sworn into office as directed by the court to the Minister.”