Politics

Election timetable: Senate petitions CJN over court ruling

Published

7 years ago

March 15, 2018

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Angered over a court ruling restraining it from further deliberation on the amendment of the electoral, the Senate on Thursday said it has resolved to write a letter to Walter Onnoghen, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).

Recall that a political party, the Accord Party had on Wednesday secured a restraining order from a federal high court in Abuja, ordering further deliberation on the matter until March 17, the adjourned date.

The court, in a ruling delivered by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, ruled that all parties in the matter to maintain status quo antebellum, “at least between now and the next adjourned date.”

The presiding judge invoked section 6(6) of the 1999 constitution, as amended, which according to him, empowered the court to protect the Res (subject matter) of the substantive suit pending before it

Mohammed ruled that if the National Assembly went ahead to exercise its powers by overriding the president, the essence of the suit would be defeated.

However, moving a motion on the floor of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Senate Minority Leader, wondered if a court injunction could stop the National Assembly from carrying out its constitutional functions.

The Minority Leader said the matter should be taken “very seriously” to forestall reoccurrence of its nature in future.

“The issue really is not the bill itself, it has to do with due process and parliamentary functions. I am worried about the situation of powers as enshrined in our constitution,” he said.

“Can the court really rule an injunction, expatriate or otherwise, to stop the parliament from carrying out its constitutional duties? I have looked through the Nigerian constitution, and in my view, I don’t think it is right for the court to interfere in the affairs of the parliament, particularly when we are in the process of making legislation. We cannot be stopped by an injunction.

“But be that as it may, I believe strongly that we also do not have the power to arrest a court judgement while the proceedings are going on and because of separation of powers.”