The Court of Appeal on Wednesday set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State which voided the provision of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act 2022.
The appellate court struck out the suit marked: FHC/UM/CS/26/2022 which one Nduka Edede filed before the Umuahia court.
The judgment was on the appeal marked: CA/OW/87/2022 filed by the Peoples’ Democratic Party.
A three-member panel of the court headed by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka held that the Federal High Court Umuahia had no jurisdiction to entertain the case because the plaintiff, Nduka Edede, lacked the locus standi to have filed the suit in the first place.
The appellate court added that Edede did not establish any cause of action to have warranted his approaching the court on the issue because he did not establish that he was directly affected by the provision.
While determining the appeal on the merit, the appellate court, however, held that the provision is unconstitutional because it violates Section 42 (1)(a) of the Constitution and denied a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in elections.
