A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has fixed November 14, 2025, to deliver judgment in a suit filed by a civil society organization, Initiative for Freedom, Conflict Prevention and Social Integration, FREECON, challenging the legality of President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State.
Other defendants in the suit include the Attorney General of the Federation, the former Sole Administrator of Rivers State, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, and its Chairman, as well as the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, which was later joined in the matter.
Members of FREECON are asking the court to determine whether, by the combined reading and interpretation of Sections 197 and 198 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the President can, under any guise or circumstance, create or appoint a Sole Administrator or any other authority to assume or exercise the powers of the Governor in the appointment of the Chairman and members of RSIEC.
The group is also contending that, by the combined effect of the relevant sections of the Constitution, the appointment of Retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as Sole Administrator, an office they claim is not recognized by the Constitution, does not confer on him the statutory power to appoint the RSIEC Chairman and members to organize or conduct elections across the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State.
The presiding judge, Justice Turaki Mohammed, on Monday fixed the date for judgment after counsels representing the parties argued and adopted their final written addresses.
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