Buhari asks federal appointees to resign, as Appeal Court vacates Umuahia High Court ruling on Section 84(12) of Electoral Act

President Muhammadu Buhari has told federal ministers and other appointees to resign from office as they contest the Presidential elections, next year.

President Buhari said this to the ministers at the Federal Executive Meeting (FEC) in Abuja, Wednesday, even as he hailed the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, who had earlier taken the decision over his presidential ambitions, while other ministers, senators and House of Representatives members sought interpretation of the disputed Subsection 12 of Section 84 of the Electoral Act which seeks to bar them from office in their quest.

The order by Buhari also follows a ruling by the Appeal Court in Abuja, Wednesday, which vacated the judgement of the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, that had earlier struck down Section 84(12) of the amended Electoral Act on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

Buhari while reacting to the Appeal Court ruling at the FEC Meeting, Wednesday, also officially acknowledged receiving the resignation letters of Nwajiuba who is pursuing a presidential ambition.

“I expect other members of this council seeking to be President to resign with immediate effect,” Buhari said.

Some of the political appointee chasing presidential ambitions in the Buhari cabinet include; Governor of Central Bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Labour and Employment, Chief Chris Ngige, as well as, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami SAN, who is nursing a governorship ambition.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Wednesday, vacated the judgement of the Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, which had voided the provision of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel of Justices led by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka, held that the high court, acted without jurisdiction.

It held that the Plaintiff, Nduka Edede, lacked the locus standi to institute the action.

According to the appellate court, Edede failed to establish any cause of action that warranted him to approach the court on the issue, noting that the plaintiff was unable to prove how he was directly affected by that section of the newly amended Electoral Act.

Consequently, it struck out the suit marked: FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, which Edede filed before the Umuahia court.

Nonetheless, the appellate court, while determining the appeal on the merit, held that the said provision of the electoral law was unconstitutional because it is in breach of Section 42 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, stressing that the section denied a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in election.

The judgment followed an appeal marked: CA/OW/87/2022, which was filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

It would be recalled that the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, had struck down Section 84(12) of the amended Electoral Act which President Muhammadu Buhari had written to the National Assembly to delete. 

The Court also ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN, delete the said Subsection 12 of Section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act.

Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act provides 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”.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Evelyn Anyadike, the Court held that the subsection 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.

Justice Evelyn Anyadike, in the Suit marked FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, 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 and 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.

Counsel to Chief Nduka Edede, the Plaintiff, Emeka Ozoani SAN, while addressing newsmen stated that by this judgment, the National Assembly was not required to further make any amendments to the section as the import of the court judgment was that Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act was no longer in existence or part of the Electoral Act. 

President Muhammadu Buhari had, while signing the amended Electoral Act, urged the National Assembly to delete the provision as it violated the Constitution and breached the rights of government appointees. 

The President further wrote a letter to both Chambers of the National Assembly, seeking amendment by way of deleting the provision, an amendment the Senate rejected in plenary.

The Judge thereafter ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to forthwith delete the said Subsection 12 of Section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act, 2022.

However, last April, the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured a leave from the Court of Appeal granting its application to be joined as an interested party in an motion filed against the judgment of an Umuahia High Court, which nullified and struck down section 84(12) of the Act.

An enrollment order of the Court of Appeal, Owerri Division, which granted leave to the PDP to appeal the judgement was sighted by judiciary correspondents on Sunday.

The enrollment order was signed by the Presiding Justice of the court, Rita Pemu. Counsel to PDP, D.C Denwigwe SAN moved the application for leave.

The appeal marked CA/OW/87/2022 has Chief Nduka Edede and the Attorney General of the Federation AGF as the 1st and 2nd respondents respectively.

The enrollment order to read in part “Upon reading the application herein filed on 23-3-2022 with an affidavit in support sworn to by John Eronini, on the same date and after hearing D.C Denwigwe SAN, for the applicant and Chief Emeka Ozoani SAN, for the 1st respondent, the order is hereby granted as follows;

“Leave is hereby granted to the applicant (PDP) to appeal as a person interested in this appeal CA/OW/87/2022.

“Due to the exigencies of this appeal and its constitutional colourization, there is a need to hear this matter expeditiously.

“Accordingly, the Appellant is hereby given up to Tuesday 12th of April, 2022 to file its Notice of Appeal and the parties are to file their respective briefs of arguments within three days from the date of service of the notice and record of Appeal on the respondents.

“There shall be a further three days given to the appellant to file a reply.

“Parties should desist from taking any step to frustrate the hearing of the appeal.

“The matter is adjourned to the 4th of May, 2022, for the hearing of the appeal.

“Fresh hearing notice to be issued on the 2nd to the 12th respondents”.

Recall that the National Assembly which enacted the contentious section 84(12) had lodged an appeal at the Court of Appeal in Owerri against the Umuahia court judgment, which had ordered the AGF to delete Section 84(12) of the amended Electoral Act 2022.