Buhari Gives May 16 Deadline To Ministers Seeking Elective Office To Resign
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) seeking elective office to resign on or before May 16.
The order came during Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by the President at the Council Chambers of the State House, Abuja
Minister of information, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this to State House correspondents shortly after the meeting.
Cabinet members affected include ministers of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio; Science, Technology and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu, and Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba all of whom are interested in the presidency. The Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami is said to be eyeing the Kebbi state governorship.
Others include the Minister of State Mines and Steel, Uche Ogar, who is running for the governorship position in Cross Rivers State, and the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, who declared her ambition to contest for the senatorial seat in Plateau State.
The call for their resignation is in line with section 84(12) of the Electoral Act which mandates political appointees to resign their office before seeking the elective posts.
“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,” the section reads.
Meanwhile, the appeal court has declared section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 unconstitutional.
A three-member panel of judges held on Wednesday that the provision violates the rights of a section of people.
Recall on February 25 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the electoral act amendment bill passed by members of the National Assembly.
The president, however, asked the national assembly to delete section 84(12) of the act, which reads: “
But a federal high court on March 18 in Umuahia, Abia capital, in a suit filed by Nduka Edede, lawyer and member of the Action Alliance (AA), ordered Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), to immediately delete the section on the grounds that it violates the provisions of the constitution.
Subsequently, on April 7, a three-member panel of the appeal court led by Rita Nosakhare Pemu granted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) permission to file a suit as an interested party, against the March 18 judgment.
But in the ruling on Wednesday, the appellate court headed by Hamma Akawu Barka struck out the suit marked: FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 filed by Edede before the Umuahia court and held that the federal high court Umuahia had no jurisdiction to hear the case because Edede lacked the locus standi to have filed the suit in the first place.
The three-man panel noted that the plaintiff did not establish any cause of action to have warranted his approaching the court on the issue because he did not establish that he was directly affected by the provision.
The court held that the provision is unconstitutional because it violates section 42 (1)(a) of the constitution and denied a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in elections.
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