Five members of the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission, including its Chairman, Mrs. Cecelia Adelusi, have been sacked by the order of a High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
The court also ordered the cancellation of the local government election, scheduled to hold on Saturday, since the electoral body that should conduct it has had five of its members stripped of their roles.
Justice John Adeyeye, who gave the orders on Thursday, said it was based on the fact that the five members of ESIEC were card-carrying members and apologists of the ruling party in the state, the Action Congress of Nigeria.
Adeyeye said as card carrying members of the ACN, the five commissioners of the electoral body were bound to be partisan.
The suit was initiated by the state’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The party went to court to seek an order to declare the ESIEC as improperly constituted to perform the role of an electoral umpire.
Those disqualified from being members of the commission were Alhaji Abdurazheem Coker, Soji Oloketuyi, Remi Olowoloba and Christopher Bamidele Oloje.
Coker resigned shortly before the ruling.
Based on the sack of the five members of the commission, ESIEC now has just two members.