Stephen Ukandu, News & Features Editor
Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 has been declared unconstitutional.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja made the declaration Wednesday following an appeal marked: CA/OW/87/2022, which was filed by the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP.
According to the appellate court, the controversial section was declared unconstitutional “because it violates Section 42 (1)(a) of the Constitution and denies a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in elections.”
The appeal court, however, set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court in Umuahia which voided the same provision of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022.
The High Court in Umuahia, had in March, struck out section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and ordered that it should be deleted by the Attorney-General of the Federation for being inconsistent with the Constitution.
In less than 24 hours after the judgment was delivered, the AGF, Abubakar Malami, SAN, announced his willingness to immediately comply with the court order.
Meanwhile, delivering judgement on the matter, a three-member panel of the court headed by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka held that the Federal High Court Umuahia lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case because the plaintiff, Nduka Edede, lacked the locus standi to file the suit in the first place.
According to the Appeal 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 struck out the suit marked: FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 which Edede filed before the Umuahia court.
Nonetheless, while determining the appeal filed by the PDP on its merit, the appellate court, however, agreed with the lower court and held that the provision is unconstitutional because it violates Section 42 (1)(a) of the Constitution as amended.
The Court of Appeal held that the controversial section denied a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in elections.
President Muhammadu Buhari had before he signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2022 into law, also expressed his reservations with that portion of the electoral law, which he described as discriminatory.
Specifically, section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, made it mandatory that political office holders must first resign from office, before they could vie for any elective position.
It 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.”
