Emerging report reaching Page 36, on Monday morning, indicates that the 9th National Assembly has introduced a new provision into the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021, that blocks Nigerians from challenging false information or documents submitted by Aspirants to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ahead of elections in the country.
The provision however, states that only Aspirants who participated in such primary election of his or her political party can challenge such documents or information in a court of Law in the country.
Currently, Section 31 (5) of the Electoral Act reads: “Any person who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by a Candidate in the affidavit or any document submitted by that Candidate is false, may file a suit at the Federal High Court, High Court of a State or the FCT (Federal Capital Territory), against such a person seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false.”
However, the new amendment reads: “Any Aspirant who participated in the primaries of his political party, who has reasonable grounds to believe that any information given by his political party’s Candidate in the affidavit or any document submitted by that Candidate in relation to his constitutional requirements to contest the election is false, may file a suit at the Federal High Court against that Candidate, seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false.”
Currently, all Nigerians are allowed to challenge the credentials of Candidates of any political party, and this has been reaffirmed by several court judgements.
Should this new amendment to the Electoral Act be signed into Law, that will no longer be the case.
More news later…
