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By Akinwand Soji-Ojo
A Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, has directed the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to delete Sub-section 12 of Section 84 from the newly amended Electoral Act, 2022.
Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act read: “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.”
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari while signing the amended Electoral Act urged the National Assembly to delete the provision as it violated Constitution and breached the rights of government appointees.
The President further wrote a letter to both chambers of the National Assembly seeking amendment by way of deleting the provision, an amendment the Senate rejected.
Delivering judgement in a suit filed by Mr Nduka Edede, a lawyer and chieftain of Action Alliance (AA), Justice Evelyn Anyadike 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.
Edede had asked 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.
Justice Anyadike 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 are 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.
Addressing newsmen , counsel to the plaintiff, Emeka Ozoani (SAN), stated that the National Assembly is not required to further make any amendments to the section as the import of th judgement is that Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act is no longer in existence or part of the Electoral Act.