The House of Representatives is considering reporting
Justice Evelyn Anyadike of a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State,
to the National Judicial Council for nullifying the provisions of Section
84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022.
Justice Anyadike’s nullification thereby empowers the
Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami
(SAN), to delete the section from the Act.
The House also resolved to appeal the judgement and have it
upturned.
The lawmakers also asked Malami to allow the National
Assembly to exercise its right to appeal the case.
Several members of the House, at the plenary on Wednesday,
criticised the judiciary and the executive of usurping the powers of the
legislature, stating that only the parliament and not a presidential appointee
can amend the law.
The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, said he got to
know about the case on the media. He said he discovered that the chamber was
not served any notice, since it was not a party to the suit.
Gbajabiamila said the President, Muhammadu Buhari, was
rightly advised to approach the National Assembly for amendment of the Act.
The Speaker stated that he would not sit back and allow the
parliament to be ridiculed under his watch.
Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house, said he cannot
allow the lower legislative chamber to be ridiculed under his watch.
Gbajabiamila said it was curious that the National Assembly
was joined in the suit and the judgment was secured from a court in Umuahia.
The Speaker stated that the parliament must appeal the
judgment and ensure that it was set aside. According to him, it is a mistake
and the lawmakers must correct it.
Gbajabiamila appealed to the AGF to “tarry” and not take
over the responsibility of the National Assembly.
The Senate had also on Tuesday resolved to take a decision
on the matter today.
Section 84(10) of the 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.”
On Friday, Anyadike had held that the section was
unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever,
saying it ought to have been struck out.
A lawyer and chieftain of Action Alliance party, Nduka
Edede, had approached the court, in the suit that had the Attorney-General of
the Federation as the Defendant.
The Plaintiff 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.
Malami had said his office would accordingly give effect to
the court judgment in line with the dictates of the law and the spirit of the
judgment.
The minister said, “The judgment of the Court will be
recognised by the government printers in printing the Electoral Act.
“The Act will be gazetted factoring the effect of the
judgment into consideration and deleting the constitutionally offensive
provision accordingly.
“The provision of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022
is not part of our law and will be so treated accordingly.
“This is in line with the dictates of chapter 7, Part 4,
Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as
amended) on enforcement of decisions that make it a point of duty and
obligation on all authorities and persons to have the judgment of the Federal
High Court, among others, to be enforced.”
Meanwhile, the National Assembly had been divided over the
ruling by a Federal High Court, Abuja, stopping the President, Major General
Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the
Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN); and the parliament from tampering with the
Electoral Act 2022.
While the Senate had insisted on going ahead to consider the
request by the President, who asked the federal parliament to delete Section
84(14) of the new electoral law, the House said it would obey the court.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, had stated that the
ruling by the FHC negates the principles of Separation of Powers. The chamber
had gone ahead to consider the executive bill for second reading and voted
against it.
However, Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public
Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, while addressing journalists on Tuesday, argued that
the chamber would obey the Rule of Law principle.
Buhari, while assenting to the Electoral Act 2010
(Amendment) Bill at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on February 25, had
highlighted sections of the new law that would revolutionalise the electoral
system in the country but expressed reservations about Section 84 (12).
The President had last week officially conveyed his
reservation about Section 84 (12) of the Act 2022 to the National Assembly,
asking the lawmakers to delete it.
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