In a stunning turn of events in the long-standing legal battle between the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, an appeal court has delivered a ruling to jettison an order from a Federal High Court compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to transmit the state election results electronically.

In March, a Federal High Court ruled in favour of the Labour Party, its governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour, and some candidates of the State House of Assembly, mandating the electoral commission to transmit the results of the gubernatorial elections according to its guidelines and regulations for the poll.

Giving his ruling on the matter, the high court judge, Justice Peter Lifu, insisted that the court has jurisdiction on the matter, noting that INEC must not deviate from its original plan to transmit the election results through the INEC Results Verification (IREV) from the polling units on election day.

In their complaints about the ruling, the All Progressives Congress and the Social Democratic Party petitioned the Appeal Court to overturn the lower court’s decision, arguing that only the electoral body has the discretion to conduct elections as it sees fit and that the high court lacks jurisdiction to rule on the matter.

In its judgment, the three-member panel of the appeal court, chaired by Justice Abubakar Umar, agreed with the appellants that INEC has the discretion to conduct the elections and how it deems it fit to transmit the election results.

Relying on Clauses 37 and 38 of the INEC regulation and Guidelines, the judge added that an order of mandamus to compel the electoral commission to coordinate the polls would be outside the law given that the commission has the flexibility to amend or vary its regulations.

“As I had demonstrated earlier in this judgment, the Electoral Act gives the 43rd respondent (INEC) discretion on how it carries out its assignment, including how it transmits or transfers the result of election from polling units,” Umar stated. “With due respect to the learned judge, an order of mandamus cannot be granted to fetter a discretion.It is my considered view that the power to make a regulation or guideline necessarily entails the power to amend or vary it,” Umar said.

The appeal court also accused the Labour Party of abusing the court process by filing the case in the first place, claiming that the party was aware that an earlier ruling by an Abuja federal high court had established the electoral commission’s authority to transmit election results as it saw fit.

Justice Umar went on to say that the ruling by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja High Court was sufficient for the Labour Party not to file a similar case before another federal high court in Lagos and that there would be consequences for doing so.

“I hereby make an order setting aside the judgment of P.O. Lifu delivered on the 8th March 2023 in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/370/2023, In its place, I make an order dismissing the suit i.e. Suit No: FHC/L/CS/370/2023 in its entirety for being an abuse of court process. Parties shall bear their respective costs”, he ruled.

It will be recalled that the Labour Party candidate in the state gubernatorial election, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour, has taken the INEC, the All Progressives Congress candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his deputy Obafemi Hamzat, and the APC to the electoral tribunal to contest the APC candidate’s victory in the poll.

Mr. Gbadebo insisted that Mr. Sanwo-Olu and his running mate were ineligible to run for office and that he did not receive the majority of the votes cast. He also accused INEC of not complying with its regulations in the conduct of the elections.