Appeal court nullifies judgment expunging Section 84(12) of Electoral Act 2022

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday, voided the judgment of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, which struck down Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022.

The appellate court voided the judgment of Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, while delivering judgment in the appeal marked:CA/OW/87/2022, filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

In a unanimous decision, the three member panel of the appellate court presided over by Justice Hamma Barka held that the Federal High Court Umuahia had no jurisdiction to have entertained the case because the plaintiff, Nduka Edede, did not have the legal authority to initiate the suit.

According to the panel, the plaintiff, Edede failed to 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 subsequently struck out the suit marked: FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, which Edede filed before the Umuahia court.

However, delivering judgment on the merit of the suit, the panel held that the said Section 84(12) was unconstitutional because it breaches Section 42(1)(a) of the Constitution by denying a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in election.

READ: Court reportedly strikes out Section 84(12) of Electoral Act 2022

Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, mandates political office holders to resign from office, before they could vie for any elective position or vote in the party convention.

It states: “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 challenged the legality or otherwise of the National Assembly tinkering with the Electoral Act, after it had been signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Amidst debate about the subject matter, a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia and presided over by Justice Evelyn Anyadike, on March 18, ordered the AGF to delete Section 84(12) of the Act.

Anyadike, in the judgment, 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.”

She 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.