Amazed by the speed of the hearing, the bizarre orders issued and the swiftness of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), to announce his readiness to implement the order of Justice Evelyn Anyadike in nullifying the provisions of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, members of the house of Representatives are bent on taken urgent action.
They are urgently considering reporting Justice Anyadike of a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State, to the National Judicial Council for the nullification.
Justice Anyadike’s nullification empowers the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to delete the section from the Act.
In the same vein, some lawyers have condemned the judgment by Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, Abia State, arguing that the orders beat legal imagination.
Before last Friday, Section 84 (12) of the recently amended Electoral Act 2021 stated 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 implication of the act was that except a political office holder or public servant resigned from office three months before the commencement of party primaries, he or she, including ministers, commissioners, or other office holders, was barred from taking part as delegates in primaries of political parties, and therefore cannot be candidate for elections.
Justice Evelyn Anyadike had directed that the section “be struck down as it cannot stand when it is in violation of the clear provisions of the Constitution.”
She had ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to “forthwith delete the said sub-section 12 of section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act, 2022”.
This has infuriated members of the House of Representatives, who believe that the decision of the Judge that the subsection should be deleted should not stand as the provisions of the subsection should be brought back to the floor of the house for further deliberations and amendment if need be.
