Precious Obogo
An Abia State High Court judge has ruled that State High Courts have no jurisdiction to entertain matters under the 2023 Electricity Act, agreeing with one of the country’s most respected Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Chief Mike Ahamba, who submitted last April 29 in a matter brought before Mr Justice Enyinna Ikpeazu sitting at the Isiala Ngwa High Court on the Aba outskirts.
Appearing for Aba Power Electric Ltd, which supplies electricity to nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State, in a suit brought by three Aba residents who claimed to be customers of the power utility, Chief Ahamba callled the court’s attention to provisions of the 2023 Electricity Act on how any person not happy at any action of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) should go about his or her grievances.
Sections 46, 48, and 51 provide, among other things: “Any person dissatisfied with the commission under Section (2) shall, subject to rules of the Federal High Court, within 30 days from the final decision of the commission was reached, file an appeal to the Federal High Court”.
Chief Ahamba, a former legislator and an influential author, told the Abia High Court that the three persons did not wait for 30 days for NERC to look into their complaint against the commission’s order to Aba Power last December 30 to review its tariff from January 1 to match those of the other 11 electricity in the country which were increased on April 4, 2024.
“They rather hurriedly ran to the Abia State High Court on the 17th day”, the SAN pointed out to the court.
“It is baffling that they should behave this way, as though Nigeria were a country with no laws, no rules, no regulations.
“Worse, they ran to the Abia State High Court here in Isiala Ngwa, contravening the 2023 Electricity Act.
“Why didn’t they proceed to the Federal High Court, which is in every state of the federation, including Abia State?”
Justice Ikpeazu agreed with Aba Power’s attorney on the two critical observations about the serious procedural errors by the complainants who had approached the court last January under the guise of the Aba Electricity Consumers Forum in protest against the NERC directive for a tariff review.
In February, the judge agreed with Abia Power that the “so-called Abia Electricity Forum is unregistered, illegal, and unknown to the law; consequently, it does not have the locus to appear before it or any other court in the country.”
According to Charles Torti, an electricity law expert in Aba who was in court when today’s ruling was delivered, “The Honourable Abia State High Court upheld the rule of law by upholding the overwhelming and overpowering arguments of the learned Silk.
“Being on the side of the law is critical for attracting investments, all the more so as the Dr Alex Otti-led administration is in a hurry to reposition Abia State as an investment destination”.
Michael Nwachukwu, a trader at the Ariara Market in Aba, expressed disgust with the three complainants when he spoke to journalists in the court premises after the judgment.
“We didn’t know that they were giving us false promises because they assured us of victory every inch of the way and launched an aggressive finance campaign; we contributed a significant sum”, Nwachukwu said.
“They encouraged us not to pay the new tariff, and we obeyed them. Now, we have to pay the new bills from January, amounting to five months, which is very heavy for us”.
Mrs Ngozi Okoroafor, a retired teacher and widow who runs a small grocery in Aba, also accused the complainants of misleading their followers, vowing to take steps to recover her financial contribution and those of her colleagues.