Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, on Friday struck down an innovation captured in section 84(12) of the recently amended Electoral Act.

The novel statutory provision had prohibited political appointees from voting as delegates in party conventions or congresses for the election or nomination of candidates.

Delivering judgement on the suit challenging the constitutionality of the provision, the judge,

Evelyn Anyadike, held that the section was “unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.”

Adjudging the provision to be in conflict of the constitution, the judge held that it “ought to be struck down as it cannot stand when it is in violation of the clear provisions of the Constitution.”

Anyadike ordered the Attorney General of the Federation to “forthwith delete the said Subsection 12 of Section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act, 2022”.

The decision upholding the case of the plaintiff on Friday aligns with the recent protest by President Muhammadu Buhari against the provision.

A lawyer and top member of Action Alliance (AA), Nduka Edede, had filed the suit to challenge the constitutionality of the provision, with the Attorney General of the Federation sued as the defendant.

The contested section 84(12) of the Electoral Act reads: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”Buhari’s protest

Buhari had, after signing the bill into the law, written the National Assemblyrequesting that the provision be expunged from the Electoral Act.

He argued in the request that the provision constituted a disenfranchisement of serving political office holders from voting or being voted for at conventions or congresses of any political party, for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election, in cases where it holds earlier than 30 days to the national election.

The Senate rejected the bill seeking the deletion of the provision earlier this month.

How law conflicts with Constitution

But in agreement with the concerns expressed against the provision, the Federal High Court in Umuahia struck down the provision on Friday.

Anyadike held that the Nigerian constitution stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections must resign at least 30 days to the date of the election.

Thus any other law mandating such appointees to resign or leave office at any time before that “is unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void, “to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution”.

The judge, in the judgement on the suit marked, FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, agreed with the submissions of the plaintiffs that Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act was inconsistent with the rights of Nigerian citizens.

The court tordered the Attorney General of the Federation, to forthwith delete the said Subsection 12 of Section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The judgement came less than two weeks after another judge of the Abuja division of the same court, Inyang Ekwo, barred President Buhari, the AGF, and the National Assembly from tampering with the newly amended Electoral Act 2022.

Ekwo, ruling on an ex-parte application by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), held that the Electoral Act having become a valid law could not be altered without following the due process of law.

Suit

The plaintiff, Edede of the AA party, had approached the court o the court to seek proper interpretation of Section 84(12) of the New Electoral Act.

Edede, through his lawyer, urged the court to determine whether Section 84(12), when read together with Sections 66(1)(f) 107(1)(f)(137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution, was not inconsistent.

Edede’s lawyer, Emeka Ozoani, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told journalists after the court’s judgement was delivered on Friday that the National Assembly no longer had to proceed with the amendment of the legislation.

He said “by this judgment, the National Assembly is not required to further make any amendments to the section as the import of this judgment is that Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act is no longer in existence or part of the Electoral Act.”

PT