A federal high court in Umuahia, Abia state, on Friday March 18, nullified a section of the electoral act barring political appointees from contesting elections.

Justice Evelyn Anyadike who held that the section was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and cannot stand, ordered the attorney-general of the federation to immediately delete section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act, 2022.

Anyadike noted that Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution already stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections should resign at least 30 days to the date of the election.

She held that any other law that mandated such appointees to resign or leave office at any time before that, was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void, “to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution”.

This is coming after the senate rejected the president’s request to amend the clause in the electoral act.