A federal high court in Abuja has
ruled that the national assembly does not have the power to amend the election
timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Although the move to amend the
timetable had sparked friction in parliament, two-third of the assembly were in
support of the bill.
The National Assembly Conference
Committee on Electoral Act (amendment) bill had adopted a reordered sequence of
the 2019 general election, putting the presidential election last.
The proposed sequence of
elections would have made the national assembly election come first, followed
by governorship and state houses of assembly, and presidential.
This is against the sequence
rolled out by INEC, which put presidential and national assembly elections
first and governorship and state assembly to follow.
Refusing assent to the bill after
it was forwarded to his office, President Muhammadu Buhari had said the
amendments if allowed to pass violate parts of the constitution.
Shortly after the bill was
refused by the president, some legislators said the national assembly would
evoke its powers under section 58(5) of the 1999 constitution to override the
president.
Through Wole Olanipekun, its
counsel, Accord Party filed an application to stop the lawmakers from tampering
with the electoral act.
More to follow…
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com