Abuja Court of Appeal on Friday upheld ruling by Federal High and ordered INEC to reinstate those Kastina lawmakers it sacked in December 2011 as well as that those presently occupying the seats should vacate with immediate effect.

The lawmakers were sacked in December 2011 by the electoral body which said they were not the due candidates for the elections on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

The December 2011 decision was overturned in January 2013 by a High Court in Abuja, which ordered that the initial winners be reinstated, but that ruling was not affected as the second set of lawmakers appealed against the ruling.

In its ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja which voided the withdrawal of Certificate of Returns of the first 10 Katsina lawmakers

The court also said the leadership of the National Assembly acted in error by accepting to swear-in of the second set of lawmakers to replace the old ones after INEC issued to them Certificate of Returns.

Justice Jimmy Bada, who led four other judges to hear the appeal said that the High Court was right to have dismissed the objection raised by the lawmakers currently in the National Assembly.

The lawyer representing the lawmakers who have been ordered to vacate their seats, John Baiyeeshea, said the appeal, which raised four issues for the court’s determination, was not a pre-election matter and as such the federal high court had no jurisdiction to hear and make a pronouncement on it.

He argued that the issuance of Certificates of Return and alleged withdrawal of the certificate are post-election matters, and begged the court to annul the judgement of the high court.