BEVERLY HILLS, March 14, (THEWILL) – A Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed Wednesday ordered the National Assembly to stop taking any further actions on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2018 which seeks to change the order of elections for the 2019 general elections.
The Accord Party is challenging the powers of the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act in order to reorder the election.
The restraining order takes effect immediate and will be in force till March 17, when the court sits for further action.
Delivering ruling on an oral application by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), lawyer to the plaintiff, Accord Party, Justice Mohammed held that the restraining order was made to preserve the substance of the main suit.
President Muhammadu Buhari had Tuesday declined to assent to the bill by the National Assembly amid threat by some federal lawmakers to veto it.
The oral application by Olanipekun for a “preservative order” was opposed by the counsel representing the National Assembly, Chinelo Ogbozor, while the Attorney General of the Federation, the 2nd defendant, had no representative.
INEC, the third respondent, was represented Mr. Taminu Inuwa. He did not object to the application.
Justice Mohammed held that the National Assembly was not likely to suffer any prejudice if it was restrained from going ahead with the amendment processes before the next hearing date.
He added that on the other hand, if no restraining order was issued and the National Assembly went ahead to exercise its powers under section 58(5) of the Constitution by overriding President’s withholding of assent, the essence of the whole suit would have been defeated.
The judge therefore ordered all parties to maintain “status quo.”
