A bill to amend the 1999 Constitution and make the Court of Appeal the final arbiter in governorship election petitions is making its way through the House of Representatives.
Bayo Balogun, Chairman of the House Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), disclosed this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday, August 12.
“One advantage of that provision is that while the state and National Assembly are in the Tribunal, then the presidential and governorship will be at the Appeal Court,” Balogun explained.
“So, by the time they are moving from the Appeal to the Supreme Court, the one of the state and National Assembly will now be going to the Appeal Court. So we will now have a spread,” he added.
The proposed legislation, titled A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Make the Court of Appeal the Final Appeal Court in Governorship, National and State Houses of Assembly Election, seeks to harmonise this structure for governorship cases.
Balogun said the proposed law also aims to shorten the tribunal period to 90 days and the appeal process to 50 days.
READ ALSO: Natasha’s Case: Reps Member Urges Reform on Ambiguous Court Judgments
“Then we have the 21 days for filing of the petition and 14 days for filing of the appeal. By the time we put all these number together, we are looking at 185,” he stated.
“What we are putting down in the Act is that the election will not be held later than 185 days to the swearing in. Once we remove it from the constitution, we will now put the provisions in the Electoral Act,” he added.
According to him, the amendment would compel INEC to hold elections earlier than February, ensuring all post-election litigations end before a governor’s tenure expires.
The bill, sponsored by Nnamdi Ezechi, who represents Ndokwa East/Ndokwa West/Ukwuani Constituency, will eliminate the current three-tier appeal system in governorship disputes, effectively removing the Supreme Court from the process.
At present, governorship petitions progress from the Tribunal to the Court of Appeal and, finally, to the Supreme Court.
In contrast, National and State House of Assembly disputes end at the Court of Appeal.