Elections reordering: Appeal court upturns judgment stopping National Assembly

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday nullified the judgment of the Federal High Court, which had struck down the National Assembly’s election re-ordering provision of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2018.
The Federal High Court judgment nullified by the Court of Appeal was delivered on April 25, 2018.
Although the controversial section of the bill was removed and its revised edition was resent to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent, the Court of Appeal held that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place.
The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, who headed a five-man panel of the court, ruled in her lead judgment that the suit was premature as a bill could not be challenged in the law court until it became an Act.
The court, in upholding the appeal by the National Assembly, also held that the Accord Party, which instituted the suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja, lacked the locus standi to file the action.
Bulkachuwa held that since the bill did not affect its rights or the obligations of the party, the “general interest” available to the public did not confer the rights on it to challenge the bill.