Reps move to make appeal court final arbiter for governorship election petitions

A bill seeking to make the court of appeal the final arbiter for the determination of governorship election petitions has scaled second reading at the house of representatives.

The bill, sponsored by Nnamdi Ezechi, lawmaker representing Ndokwa east/Ndokwa west/Ukwuani federal constituency of Delta state, seeks to alter section 246 of the 1999 constitution.

Currently, section 246 of the constitution states that the decisions of the court of appeal in respect of litigations arising from the national, state houses of assembly election petitions shall be final.

The bill intends to alter that provision of the constitution to include governorship elections.

In 2024 when the bill passed first reading, Ezechi said the proposed legislation is intended to mitigate delays and save costs in post-election litigations.

If enacted, the law will prevent gubernatorial election disputes from reaching the supreme court — a departure from the current practice.

There have been cases where the appellate court nullified governorship election results, only for the supreme court to overturn its decision.

In 2023, the tribunal and court of appeal voided the election of Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as governor of Plateau state.

However, in January 2024, the supreme court faulted the decision of the court of appeal and affirmed Mutfwang’s election.

Similarly, the tribunal and the court of appeal sacked Abba Yusuf, as governor of Kano state.

The judgement was nullified by the apex court.