President Bola Tinubu is being sued by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State for allegedly designating an All Progressives Congress (APC) member as the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Aniekan Akpan, the state PDP’s chairman, and Harrison Ekpo, the secretary, filed the lawsuit, respectively.
The selection of Etekamba Umoren as the state’s REC is being contested by the opposition.
UPDATE: Senate Approves Appointment Of 7 Of Tinubu’s 10 New INEC RECs
Anaedoonline.ng notes that the Senate confirmed the appointments of seven of the ten RECs—including Umoren—that the President had forwarded to it on Tuesday on Wednesday.
Tinubu, the Senate, and Umoren are named as defendants in the lawsuit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja with the case number FHC/ABJ/CS/146/2023.
The opposition party chieftains are urging the court to declare that “the 1st defendant (President Tinubu) cannot present the 3rd defendant (Umoren) to the 2nd defendant (Senate) for confirmation as REC for Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.”
They are seeking a court declaration that “the appointment of the 3rd defendant as REC for Akwa Ibom State is unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, null and void ab initio and of no effect whatsoever.”
UPDATE: Bola Tinubu Appoints Nine INEC RECs
The plaintiffs want the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction “restraining the Senate from allowing, permitting and/or confirming Umoren as a REC and a further injunction restraining Umoren from acting, assuming the office and/or parading himself as a REC for Akwa Ibom State.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
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