The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja Wednesday nullified Section 21 of the Edo State Local Government Electoral Law and the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission Establishment (Re-Enactment) Law 2017 (as amended) in 2022.
Section 21 deals with the required number of days for notification and publication of names for the LGAs election.
Consequently, the court held that the state’s governor Godwin Obaseki cannot conduct an LGAs election in the state with 15 days’ notice instead of the 91 days allowed for in the Electoral Act.
It would be recalled that Governor Obaseki had through the Edo State House of Assembly amended a section of the local government law to conduct LGAs election within 15 days’ notice instead of the 90 days as stipulated by the Electoral Act.
In Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/423/2022, Irene Enike Sylvester and three others are challenging the amendment of the law establishing Edo State Local Government Electoral Law and Edo State Independent Electoral Commission Establishment (Re-Enactment) Law 2017 (as amended in 2022).
The plaintiffs, all aggrieved members of the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed the suit which has the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and six others, including the Edo State Government, Edo House of Assembly as co-defendants.
The defendants raised issues on the jurisdiction of the court but Justice Taiwo Taiwo in his ruling dismissed all the grounds of objection as regards the jurisdiction of the court and proceeded to determine the substantive suit.
The trial judge applied the doctrine of covering the field and the inconsistency rule and held that Section 32(1) and 104 of the Electoral Act, 2022 have already provided for the period of publication of names and particulars of candidates in respect of local government election, adding that Section 21 of the Edo State Government Law cannot provide to the contrary.
Justice Taiwo also held that the provision of Section 21 of the Edo State Local Government Electoral Law and Edo State Independent Electoral Commission Establishment (Re-Enactment) Law 2017 (as amended in 2022) was inconsistent with paragraphs 11 and 12 of part II of the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
Relying on the supremacy provision in Section 1(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the court insisted that Section 21 of the Edo State Local Government Electoral Law and the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission Establishment (Re-Enactment) Law 2017 (as amended) in 2022 is null and void.
