The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has reserved judgement in two separate appeals over the timetable for the conduct of the 2027 elections released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Justice Adebukola Bankole, who led the panel that heard the appeals, reserved judgement in the the cases.
The judge said the date of the judgement will be communicated to parties in the appeal
Two political parties, Youth Party of Nigeria, YPN, and Social Democratic Party, SDP, had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, to nullify the timetable released for the elections by INEC.
While Justice Mohammed Umar granted the reliefs sought in the suit by YPN and nullified the election guidelines released by INEC, Justice James Omotosho, in the suit filed by SDP, granted some reliefs in favour of the party and some others in favour of the electoral umpire.
Not satisfied by the two judgments, INEC approached the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgments of Justice Umar and parts of the judgement of Justice Omotosho which limits its power regarding the elections.
Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, led two other SANs from INEC to argue the appeals.
Izinyon in his submission before the court contended that INEC has the power as provided by the law under the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act to issue guidelines.
Izinyon said, “The Constitution, specifically, empowered INEC to organize, supervise and undertake elections and other political activities as provided and that the timetable provided is
