Win for Buhari as court nullifies part of electoral act
A Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia has struck out Section 84(12) from the Electoral Act which was recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Evelyn Anyadike, the court held that the section 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.
According to the section, “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.”
President Buhari had earlier asked the national assembly to delete the clause, stating that it disenfranchises serving political officers and was in conflict with the constitution, a request the legislators turned down.
Justice Anyadike in the suit marked FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 held 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 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.
