By Festus Ahon

ASABA—The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin, Edo State, has upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court which directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to restore the Ughelli South constituency 1, Delta State, to its original status as a separate state constituency alongside constituency II .

The presiding judge, Justice H. Barka, who read the lead judgment, pointed out that the constituency had existed separately before 1996. The ruling also restored the Isoko North constituency 1 as a separate state constituency.

INEC had appealed the ruling of the lower court, as per Justice Mohammed Abuabakar, delivered on October 31, 2014 which upheld the prayers of the plaintiffs.

The appellate court dismissed the appeal for lack of merit in its entirety and upheld the ruling of the lower court in favour of the respondents, Chief Godwin Sito and five others. The court faulted INEC’s decision to merge the Ughelli South constituency 1 with another constituency, thereby denying the people of their constitutional right to have their separate representatives in the Delta State House of Assembly.

The applicants had prayed the lower court to declare that the suppression of Ughelli South state constituency 1 by INEC was unconstitutional, urging it to restore the state constituency to its original constitutional status. They had also urged the lower court to declare that by virtue of the mandatory provisions of sections 6, 36, 91 and 112 of the 1999 constitution, the Delta State House of Assembly as presently constituted of 29 members, is not properly composed.

Reacting to the judgment, the member representing Ughelli South constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Olorogun Taleb Tebite, said the judgment was emphatic and clear, reaffirming their strong belief in God and the nation’s judiciary.