Senate ignores court order, stamps Buhari’s request for electoral act amendment
The Senate has set aside a court order which purportedly halted the further amendment of the 2022 Electoral Act.
Senate President Ahmed Lawan carried on with the amendment at the behest of President Muhammadu Buhari who requested the expungement of section 84(12) of the 2022 Electoral Act despite a restraining order.
Mr Buhari, who appended his assent to the bill on February 25, urged the members of NASS to remove the section which mandated the resignation of political appointees before contesting in any election.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed a lawsuit against any further amendment of the Act at the Abuja division of the Federal High Court before Justice Inyang Ekwo.
A restraining order was on Monday placed on president Buhari, the attorney-general of the Federation Abubakar Malami, and the senate from further amending the Act.
However, Mr Lawan defied the court order during the plenary session on Tuesday, as he listed consideration to amend the act for its first reading.
According to him, the court lacked the power to stop the Senate from performing its legislative duties.
All pleas by other senators including former deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu to err on the side of caution and suspend the action fell on deaf ears as a determined Mr Lawan insisted the court must respect the doctrine of separation of powers.
The dissenting senators buttressed their pleas by citing order 52(5) of the senate to suspend the amendment.
“The doctrine of separation of powers should be respected by all arms of government to prevent anarchy.
“The Senate will surely go ahead with the amendment as requested for by the President,” insisted the senate president.
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