Technocrat Media, Abuja
The House of Representatives has resolved to appeal the judgment of a Federal High Court Umuahia asking the Attorney-General to delete section 84(12) of the newly passed Electoral Act 2022.
The resolution was made at the plenary on Wednesday.
The lower chamber directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, to hold action on the issue until all appeal processes are concluded.
In the suit marked FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, Justice Evelyn Anyadike last Friday had ruled that the section was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void, and of no effect whatsoever and cannot stand, as it is in violation of the clear provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The section says: “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”.
Justice Anyadike further stated that Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f), and 182(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 and that any other law that mandated such appointees to resign or leave the office at any time before that was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution.
