The House of Representatives has said that it is appealing against the verdict by a Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, which ordered the removal of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, because ‘the judgement was against the provisions of the dictates of the principles of separation of power’.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the section in contention says: “No political appointee at any level shall be 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”.
The spokesman of the house of representatives, Benjamin Kalu, spoke on why the lawmakers are appealing the judgement on Electoral Act while addressing newsmen on Thursday in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. According to him, the appeal would be filed soon.
“When you ask an act of parliament to be deleted by the executive, it means you are being irresponsible to the dictates of the doctrine of separation of powers which is one of the ethos of democracy which must be sustained at all times,” Kalu said.
“That was why the parliament felt agitated and decided to appeal the judgment and write the National Judicial Council (NJC) to look into the matter. We will ask to be joined as an interested party so that we can exercise our rights.”
