THE Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed an application for an interim injunction seeking to halt the conduct of the August 30, 2025 local government elections in the state.
Delivering ruling on Thursday, the presiding judge, Justice Stephen Jumbo, held that the application for motion ex parte filed by Port Harcourt-based lawyer, Williams Abayomi-Stanley, lacked merit.
The suit had listed President Bola Tinubu, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), and its Chairman as defendants.
Justice Jumbo, while refusing the prayer to restrain RSIEC from conducting the polls, however, granted another motion ex parte allowing substituted service on the first and second defendants — President Tinubu and the AGF.
The judge ordered that the August 30 council elections must proceed as scheduled and adjourned the matter until September 10, 2025 for hearing on the substantive suit.
Speaking with journalists outside the courtroom, counsel to the claimant, Godsent Elewa, explained that his client, Abayomi-Stanley, a constitutional lawyer from Emuoha Local Government Area, had approached the court to seek constitutional interpretation on the legality of the President’s role in appointing the RSIEC Chairman and commissioners.
Elewa said the suit specifically seeks the court’s interpretation of: Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission Law No. 12 of 2018, and Sections 197, 198, and 200 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“The applicant is basically in court to determine whether the President indeed has the constitutional powers to appoint RSIEC officials to conduct local government elections in Rivers State,” he said.
On the outcome of Thursday’s ruling, Elewa said although the application for interim injunction was dismissed, his client was satisfied that the second prayer substituted service was granted.
“We had two motions ex parte. The first was an application to restrain the conduct of the August 30 elections, but the Court found it lacked merit and dismissed it.
“The second was for substituted service on the President and the AGF, and the Court granted that order,” Elewa stated.
He stressed that the dismissal of the injunction was not a setback, noting that the substantive case will now proceed with all parties properly served.
With the ruling, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission is set to go ahead with preparations for Saturday’s local government polls across the 23 LGAs of the state.
