As politicking for the 2023 general election hits up, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has hinted that all necessary measures to delete the controversial section 84(12) of the electoral act 2022 is being worked on with the relevant agencies.
Recall that the contentious section which reads: “No political appointee at any level shall be a 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,” has thrown political stakeholders into confusion, following a verdict by a Federal High Court which sat in Umuahia recently.
State House Correspondents asked Malami to give an update on the implementation of the ruling by a federal high court in Umuahia, that ordered the attorney-general of the federation to delete section 84 (12) of the amended electoral act, to which he responded, “the process is still on”.
He said: “My clear response arising therefrom, is the fact that truly there exists a court judgment. By the judgment, the court directed the Office of the Attorney General, to take the necessary steps to delete the provision, which in essence implies that the provision should not form part of our laws.
Whether it has been deleted, or has not been deleted, is a function of agencies of government and associated, relevant parastatals. But the true position of it in that respect is the fact that government printers, and indeed Law Reform Commission among others, that are responsible for the codification and gazetting of our laws, are working naturally, hand in hand with the Office of the Attorney General for the purpose of ensuring that what goes into our laws are indeed in line with the provision of the law.
So what I am saying in essence, it is indeed a work in progress against the background of the fact that the Law Reform Commission is involved statutorily, which is a parastatal under the Office of the Attorney General, a party to the process of codification.
The government printers, which are saddled with the responsibility of gazetting our laws on the request of the Office of the Attorney General, are equally involved. And above all, as you rightly stated, the possibility of an appeal is equally there. So, what I am saying in effect is, deletion of section 84 Subsection 12 is a work in progress and is being considered as such.”
