National Assembly appeals high court judgment on election re-ordering

The National Assembly, NASS, has urged the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja to set aside a Federal High Court judgment that it lacked the power to re-order the proposed sequence for the 2019 general elections.


Subsequently, the lawmakers are asking the appellate court to dismiss the claims of the plaintiff in its entirety.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of an Abuja Division of the Federal High Court had, in his judgment in a suit filed by Accord Party against National Assembly, Attorney-General of the Federation, and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, held that the election timetable earlier released by INEC could not be altered by the legislature.

The court maintained that INEC was the only body constitutionally empowered to organise, undertake and supervise elections in the country, adding that such responsibility included fixing dates for polls.

The Accord Party filed the suit through Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN), after both chambers of NASS attempted to implement Section 58 of the Constitution, which allows the legislature to override the decision of the President.

The party asked the court, to determine if INEC was not solely empowered to carry out its function of overseeing the election timetable in Nigeria.

Among reliefs the plaintiff sought before the court, which were granted, include “a declaration that the third defendant is the only body and or institution constitutionally vested with the powers, vires and duties to organise, undertake and supervise elections to the offices of the President and Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the governor and deputy governor of a state, membership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the House of Assembly of each state of the federation, including fixing or assigning dates of the said elections and sequence of same.”