As the race and bustle for 2023 grows hot among political parties in Nigeria, the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved their overall judgment in the suit filed by President Muhammadu Buhari and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to completely void the provisions of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The court will announce a date to the parties involved.
Africa Today News, New York had reported that on May 19, the apex court admitted an application filed by Rivers to be joined in the suit.
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Justice Musa Dattijo, who led the seven-member panel of the justices of the apex court, allowed the joinder application that Rivers brought through the Speaker of its House of Assembly and its Attorney-General and adjourned the hearing on the suit until May 26. The applicants told the court that they were opposed to the suit marked SC/CV/504/2022, which originally had the National Assembly as the sole respondent.
Recall that Buhari and Malami filed a suit at the Supreme Court, seeking an interpretation of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2022.
They are seeking an order of the apex court to strike out the section of the Electoral Act, saying it is inconsistent with the nation’s Constitution.
In another report, a Federal High Court in Abuja has also adjourned till June 28 for parties in a suit by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on the provision of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, to report on the outcome of a similar suit by President Muhammmadu Buhari before the Supreme Court.
The PDP, in the suit seeks to restrain the National Assembly from giving effect to the request by President Buhari to delete Section 84(12) of the Electoral Amendment Act, 2022.
Justice Inyang Ekwo chose the date after lawyer to the plaintiff, Joseph Daudu (SAN), noted that the hearing of the suit was dependent on the outcome of the one before the Supreme Court filed by President Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
Justice Ekwo had on the last adjourned date, asked the plaintiff to review its case in view of a recent Court of Appeal judgment on an appeal by the PDP against the judgment by Justice Evelyn Ayandike of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, voiding the Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act.