2023 Showdown: Senate President Dares Buhari

<h4>2023 Showdown&colon; Senate President  Dares Buhari<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria has gathered that the National Assembly has countered a suit filed by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation &lpar;AGF&rpar; and Minister of Justice&comma; Abubakar Malami&comma; on the controversial Section 84&lpar;12&rpar; of the Electoral Amendment Act 2022&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the President and minister asked the Supreme Court to interpret the provision of the section of the law&comma; the lawmakers opposed the request to strike it out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Their position was contained in a counter-affidavit filed by the counsel to the National Assembly&comma; Kayode Ajulo&comma; on Monday at the apex court in Abuja&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The National Assembly asked the Supreme Court to strike out the suit instituted by President Buhari and Malami&comma; saying the court cannot be invoked to amend the provision of any law validity made by lawmakers in the exercise of their legislative powers as granted by the Constitution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to them&comma; the 1999 Constitution as amended gives the National Assembly the power to make laws for good governance in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Besides seeking interpretation of the contentious section&comma; the President and the minister&comma; in the suit filed on April 29&comma; sought an order of the apex court to strike out the section of the Electoral Act&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The duo who were plaintiffs in the suit contended that Section 84 &lpar;12&rpar; of the Electoral &lpar;Amendment&rpar; Act&comma; 2022 was inconsistent with the provisions of Sections 42&comma; 65&comma; 66&comma; 106&comma; 107&comma; 131&comma; 137&comma; 147&comma; 151&comma; 177&comma; 182&comma; 192 and 196 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria&comma; 1999&comma; &lpar;as amended&rpar;&comma; as well Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and People and Peoples Rights&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For them&comma; the Constitution already provides qualification and disqualification for the offices of the President and Vice President&comma; Governor and Deputy Governor&comma; Senate and House of Representatives&comma; House of Assembly&comma; Ministers&comma; Commissioners&comma; and Special Advisers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>President Buhari and Malami&comma; therefore&comma; prayed the court for &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A declaration that the joint and combined reading of Sections 65&comma; 66&comma; 106&comma; 107&comma; 131&comma; 137&comma; 147&comma; 151&comma; 177&comma; 182&comma; 192 and 196 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria&comma; 1999&comma; &lpar;as amended&rpar;&semi; the provision of Section 84 &lpar;12&rpar; of the Electoral Act&comma; 2022&comma; which also ignores Section 84&lpar;3&rpar; of the same Act&comma; is an additional qualifying and&sol;or disqualifying factors for the National Assembly&comma; House of Assembly&comma; Gubernatorial and Presidential elections as enshrined in the said constitution&comma; hence unconstitutional&comma; unlawful&comma; null and void&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Source&colon; Channels TV<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;