The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has said that the Office will accordingly give effect to the Court judgment on the newly amended Electoral Act, in line with the dictates of the law and the spirit of the judgment.
A Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia had on Friday struck down Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act which President Muhammadu Buhari had written to the National Assembly to delete, ruling that political appointees only need to resign 30 days to election.
The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Evelyn Anyadike, held that the 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.
In his reaction on Friday night, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice said the judgment of the Court will be recognized by the Government printers in printing the Electoral Act.
A statement signed by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations to the AGF added: “The Act will be gazetted factoring the effect of the judgment into consideration and deleting the constitutionally offensive provision accordingly.
“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 makes 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.””
