Electoral Act: NBA Notes Complaints About Abia Court’s Judgment On Section 84(12), To Decide Next Action

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has noted some complaints arising from the Judgment of the Federal High Court, Abia which nullified Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 on March 18.

The NBA President, Olumide Akpata, in a statement on Tuesday, listed the observations so far made but advised stakeholders to remain calm and allow the law take its course.

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the court had on Friday held that the section which bars political appointees from voting or being voted for, runs contrary to the 1999 constitution.

The court had further ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN to delete the section.

In response, the AGF had stated that “the judgment of the Court will be recognized by the Government printers” and “gazetted factoring the effect of the judgment into consideration and deleting the constitutionally offensive provision accordingly.”

But reacting to the judgment, Akpata said that the first complaint received from legal practitioners is based on the ambiguity surrounding the phrase “political appointee” and “public officers.”

The second one, according to the NBA, is the speed with which the court delivered the verdict.

“The NBA has noted some of the complaints about the Judgment and its consequences, and these include not just the substance, which critics accuse of conflating that cadre of government officials referred to as political appointees – and the subject of the vexed Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act – with public officers within the meaning of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), but also the somewhat usual circumstances surrounding the case especially the blistering speed with which the case, filed on 8th March 2022, was heard and determined on 18th March 2022.

“While it is a truism that justice delayed is justice denied, and that we have long complained about the delays that ordinary litigants face in the determination of their rights and obligations before our courts, it is also correct that justice rushed is also justice crushed, especially in cases of public interest such as the case at issue. The utopian balance between these twin constraints continues to occupy the attention of stakeholders in the administration of justice,” the statement partly read.

Akpata suggested to Nigerian courts to be wary of not following the law and judicial principles in arriving at its decisions.

“Nonetheless, the NBA must emphatically state that all Courts in Nigeria must act in accordance with the dictates of the law and having regard to justice in order to forestall a situation of breakdown of law and order which is certain to occur when the generality of Nigeria ultimately lose confidence in the court system,” he stated.

The NBA said it would “decide on the next appropriate steps” after going through the certified copies of the Judgment, the process filed, and the record of proceedings in the case.