Nasarawa state high court 6, presiding over by Hon. Justice Hafsant Musa Sanda, has fixed 4th, December 2024, for hearing on a substantive suit filed by some aggrieved Lafia residents against Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). Delivery of a ruling today, on the jurisdiction of the state high court to entertain the matter, Hon. Justice Hafsant Musa Sanda objected the preliminary applications filed by 1st Defendant AEDC and 2nd Defendant NERC challenging the jurisdiction of the state high court on the ground that the 2nd Defendant is a federal government agency and that only the federal high court has jurisdiction to entertain the suit. In her ruling, Justice Hafsant Musa Sanda stressed that the state high court has jurisdiction and dismissed the preliminary applications by the first and second defendants for lacking merit and adjourned the matter to 4th December for hearing.
It would be recalled that some residents of Lafia have filed a suit against AEDC for migrating them to A band without commensurate supply of electricity as specified by the Regulatory Commission. The case was first heard at state high court 6 Lafia on 13 July 2023.  Since then, legal fireworks have been on between councils to the plaintiff on the one hand and councils to the defendants on the other over the jurisdiction of the state high court to entertain a matter against a federal agency.