The Senate has unanimously disagreed with the judgment by the federal high court in Umuahia, Abia State, nullifying the provisions of Section 84(12) of the newly amended Electoral Act 2022 passed by the National Assembly; and as a result have decided to appeal the judgment.
In a motion sponsored by George Thompson Sekibo, tagged, “Urgent need to appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court Umuahia on Suit No.: FHC/UM/CS/16/2022, lawmakers at the plenary session on Tuesday, and in a heated debate argued that the power to make laws is solely vested on the Parliament.
On Tuesday, there was a hot exchange on the floor of the Senate, between lawmakers opposed to the action of the Federal High Court and the Minister of Justice, and those opposed to plans by the National Assembly to appeal the judgment.
Sekibo quoting extensively Section 4(1, 2 and 3) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, said that it was at variance with the court ruling.
Similarly, The House of Representatives has asked the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to desist from tampering with the section 84(12) of the Constitution until all legal actions are exhausted.
The House reached the resolution after debating a point of order moved by the Ndudi Elumelu, the minority leader, on Wednesday.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, said, “The section was to deepen democracy and expand the frontier of our jurisprudence.”
He described those who challenged the section in court as meddlesome interlopers, and promised to follow up immediately with a letter to the National Judicial Council on judgment.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Bar Association has also raised concerns about
Last week , Justice Evelyn Anyadike, in a judgment, held that the Section of the Act was “unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever and ought to be struck down as it cannot stand when it is in violation of the clear provisions of the Constitution.”
Court therefore ordered the Attorney General of the Federation to “forthwith delete the said Subsection 12 of Section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act.”
Justice Anyadike in the Suit FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 held that Sections 66(1), 107(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution already stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections were only to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election.