How To Prevent People From Occupying Political Offices Illegally, Prominent Lawyer Reveals
- A human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has revealed how to prevent people from occupying political offices illegally in Nigeria
- Effiong said section 285 of the constitution needs to be amended to allow for the conclusion of all election proceedings before swearing-in
- In an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, he added that the three stages of governorship election cases also require constitutional amendments
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Lagos state - A prominent lawyer, Inibehe Effiong has called for the amendment of Section 285 of the constitution to prevent politicians from occupying offices illegally.
Effiong said this is necessary to prevent the sack of individuals who have occupied various political offices.
Source: Facebook
Effiongs calls for an amendment of section 285
The human rights lawyer stated this during an exclusive interview with Legit.ng while reacting to the sack of governors and lawmakers by the tribunal.
He explained that because election matters are not concluded before acclaimed winners are sworn into office, the occupier of the office can influence decisions in his/her favour.
“Section 285 of the constitution should be amended to allow for the conclusion of all election proceedings and the appeal arising from there before swearing-in. If candidates are made to know their fate regarding the election results before the day of the inauguration, we are not going to have this kind of situation where people occupy offices illegally. “
He added:
“Section 285 which states that a candidate or political party has 21 days from the date of declaration to file a petition. This is not the proper thing to do., the constitution should be amended regarding the timeline for the conduct of elections to give more room more time for INEC to conduct elections and for petitions arising from those elections to be concluded.”
The human rights lawyer said the amendment should apply to all positions including the presidential position.
Effiong added that all election proceedings should be concluded before swearing-in because some persons consider it a distraction for those who are in office.
2 two-stage process for government election cases
He said the 3 stages involved in the gubernatorial election cases should be reduced to two like the presidential and legislative.
Effiong argued that it be the tribunal/Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and not the tribunal to Court of Appeal to Supreme Court
“For gubernatorial, I don't think we need a tribunal. It should be a two-stage process where you go either from the Court of Appeal or the tribunal and then to the Supreme Court. But at the governorship level, it is 3 stages, you go to the court of appeal and you go to the Supreme Court. For a Legislative position, it is two, a tribunal and a court of appeal. So these are matters that require constitutional amendments.”
Tribunal sacks governor Abba Yusuf of Kano
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) was sacked by the Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
On Wednesday, September 20, the tribunal declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Nasir Gawuna, the winner of the Kano State governorship elections held on Saturday, March 18.
Tribunal sacks Nasarawa governor Abdullahi Sule
The governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Nasarawa state has nullified the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state.
The court declared David Emmanuel Ombugadu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, as the winner.
Source: Legit.ng
