The Yoruba Stakeholders Summit Group (YSSG) and the Coalition of Pro-democracy Groups, have charged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to probe nullification of the provisions of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022.
Rising from its expanded meeting held in Osogbo, Osun State on Monday, the groups in a communiqué jointly signed by Comrade Ologun Ayodeji (YSSG) and Ganzallo Gbenga Antonio (CPG), urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami SAN, to order.
The section in question bars political appointees at any level from voting or being voted for in primary elections of political parties.
The groups said while it recognised that a court of law has the power to strike down any provision of a statute, it said that it considered the ruling as another in the series of attempts by some politicians to perpetuate themselves in office and advance their individual ambitions.
The statement read: “As Nigerians and key stakeholders in the electoral process, we take strong exception to the ruling of the Federal High Court, Umuhaia over this matter.
“We wish to state that there was a miscarriage of justice in the ruling, particularly as it regards the sections of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria relied upon in the ruling, that is, Sections 66 (1) (f), 107(1) (f),137 (1) (f) and 182 (1) (f)
“We considered the ruling as another in the series of attempt by some politicians to perpetuate themselves in office, most importantly for the reasons of spending funds and other resources of the state in advancing their individual ambitions.
“The provisions of the section 84 is very clear and simple enough, even to the least knowledgeable, and the options available for the political appointees, especially those behind this infamous Abia Federal High Court ruling, is either to retain their current political office or to seek elective office, but certainly they cannot combine both.”
“We are worried that the court did not in anyway consider the need for participation by other stakeholders including the National Assembly before arriving at the hurriedly delivered ruling.
“As guardians of democracy, we are urging President Muhammadu Buhari, to immediately call the AGF to order and order a thorough investigation into the role played by politicians, especially those nursing presidential ambition within his party, in this unfortunate attack on our law.
“We commend the All Progressives Congress (APC) for not allowing its recent national convention to be used to condone arbitrariness and disregard for our law by his decision to exempt aspiring members of the party from participating as delegates at the convention.
“We urge the National Assembly to immediate approach the Supreme Court to seek due clarification and interpretation of the controversial ruling over Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act,” the communiqué read.