Reps in session
State Governments which on the basis of the new Electoral Act issued circulars to appointees to resign if they want to contest elected offices may have to withdraw them from circulation.
A court ruling at the weekend threw a spanner in the works and removed some clauses that are contained in section 84 of the reworked Electoral Act.
This means that appointees and other top aides to serving Governors who are eyeing higher service are likely to remain in their positions longer than most have expected.
More than that, they might even have the opportunity of running for elective positions while still serving.
According to what has become known, Governors in some states had issued circulars requesting their appointees who are nursing political ambitions to resign before March 30.
Given what has happened in court, states which acted on the premise of Section 84(10) of the Act that says, “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”, are now to review their initial stand.
In most states, appointees preparing to aspire for office were obviously jittery as a result of the new law.
Some, if not most Nigerians, argued that the provisions inserted by lawmakers in the Act had verily tampered with the fundamental rights of those affected by Section 84.
The Abia court’s ruling has thus cleared the air and re-ordered the thinking of major political actors.
On Wednesday, Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, had revealed that the Federal Government was contemplating steps to take in respect of the controversial section.
Now that the judiciary has given an interpretation that is opposed to the provisions contained in Section 84, the Federal Government may not need to lift a finger.
Delivering judgement days after the suit was instituted, Justice Evelyn Anyadike ruled that the section was “unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever”.
The Court ordered the Attorney General to strike out the said provision(s) “as it is in violation of the clear provisions of the constitution.”
The court held that according to Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution, appointees of government seeking to contest elections will have to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election.
It further noted that any other law that mandated such appointees to resign or leave office at any time before that was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the constitution.
The counsel to the plaintiff, Emeka Ozoani (SAN), told newsmen afterwards that by the judgment, the National Assembly was not required to further make any amendments to the section “as the import of this judgment is that Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act is no longer in existence or part of the Electoral Act.”