2019: Court Nullifies National Assembly’s Amendment Of Electoral Act

An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has nullified the amendment of Section 25 of the Electoral Act, which was passed in February by the National Assembly.

In a judgement on Wednesday, the court presided by Justice Ahmed Mohammed ruled that only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had the powers to create an election template for the country.

The judge also ruled that any attempt by the National Assembly to amend the Section 25, as done by the legislature, would first require an amendment of the constitution.

The Accord Party filed the application after both chambers of the National Assembly attempted to implement Section 58 of the constitution which allows the legislature to override the decision of the president.

The party asked the court to determine if INEC was not solely empowered to carry out its function of overseeing the election timetable in Nigeria.

The application by Accord Party was part of events that trailed the decision of the National Assembly to reorder the sequence of the 2019 general elections, putting the presidential election last.

Agency report says this development initiated a series of controversies in the polity with some senators of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) saying it was targeted at Mr. Buhari, to prevent his reelection.

Both chambers of the National Assembly, though dominated by the APC, amended the order of the election. The proposed sequence of elections would make the National Assembly election come first in 2019, followed by governorship and state Houses of Assembly, and presidential as last.

That was against the sequence rolled out by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) late 2017, which put presidential and National Assembly elections first and governorship and state assembly to follow.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on March 13 refused assent to the bill, after it was forwarded to his office. He had said the amendments if allowed to pass violate parts of the constitution.

Shortly after the bill was refused by the president, the Federal High Court restrained the Senate from proceeding with further actions on the offending incidents.