Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has reacted to the judgement by the Umahia division of the federal high court.

In a statement issued by the AGF through his spokesperson, Dr Umar Gwandu, the AGF noted that the judgment of the court will be recognized by the government printers in printing the Electoral Act.

Recall Justice Evelyn Anyadike had ordered the AGF to delete section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act. The AGF in his statement said the Act will be gazetted, factoring the effect of the judgment into consideration and deleting the constitutionally offensive provision accordingly.

What the AGF is saying

In the statement, the AGF noted that the said section was not part of Nigerian law and will be treated as such.

The AGF said, “The office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice will accordingly give effect to the Court judgment in line with the dictates of the law and the spirit of the judgment.

“The judgment of the Court will be recognized by the Government printers in printing the Electoral Act.

“The provision of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 is not part of our law and will be so treated accordingly.

“This is in line with the dictates of chapter 7, Part 4, Section 287 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) on enforcement of decisions that make it a point of duty and obligation on all authorities and persons to have the judgment of the Federal High Court, among others, to be enforced.” 

What you should know

The section to be deleted states 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.”
Justice Anyadike in her ruling held that any other law that mandates political appointees to resign or leave office at any time other than the 30 days before the election as stated by the constitution is illegal, invalid and unconstitutional.

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