2023: Resign Within 24hrs, Ganduje Orders Appointees Seeking Elective Offices

Martins Ayotunde

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has ordered all political appointees contesting elective offices in the forthcoming 2023 general election to tender their letters of resignation from their respective positions.

Ganduje, in a statement issued on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar, directed the appointees to resign their positions on or before Monday, April 18, 2022.

The governor hinged the decision on Section 84 (12) of the newly amended Electoral Act, which provides that ‘political appointees and public servants’ aspiring to contest elections must resign their positions before the conduct of party primaries.

The controversial clause also stipulates 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.”

However, a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia nullified the section on the grounds that it was inconsistent with Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution and subsequently declared it unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has, however, challenged the ruling in the Court of Appeal, Abuja. The appeal will be heard on the 4th of May, 2022.