The Court of Appeal in Abuja , on Wednesday, set aside the judgment of Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court in Umuahia which voided the provision of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
In a landmark judgment by a three-member panel headed by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka, the appellate court held that the Federal High Court in Umuahia lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case on the grounds that the plaintiff, Nduka Edede, did not have the locus standi to file the suit in the first place.
According to the appellate court, Edede did not establish any cause of action to have warranted his approaching the court on the issue because he did not establish that he was directly affected by the provision.
The Court of Appeal consequently struck out the suit marked: FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 which Edede filed before the FHC in Umuahia.
But determining the appeal on its merit, the appellate court held that the provision was unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated Section 42 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and denied a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in election.
The appellate court stated this while delivering its verdict in the appeal marked: CA/OW/87/2022 and filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The said Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act states that, “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.”
The PDP had filed the appeal and named the President, the Attorney General of the Federation, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Clerk of National Assembly as co-respondents in the matter.
The party also named the Senate Leader, House of Representatives Leader, and the Independent National Electoral Commission as 1st to 8th defendants respectively.
Others include Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Deputy Senate Leader, and Deputy Leader of the House of Representatives as 9th to 12th defendants in the matter.
The opposition PDP had challenged the propriety of the National Assembly tinkering with the Electoral Act, after it had been signed into law by President Buhari.
But Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court in Umuahia on March 18, ordered the AGF to delete Section 84(12) of the Act on the grounds 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.”
Anyadike further 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.
