The House of Representatives is considering a bill to amend the 1999 Constitution to make the Court of Appeal the final court in disputes involving governorship, as well as National and State Houses of Assembly elections in Nigeria. The bill, sponsored by Nnamdi Ezechi, the lawmaker representing Ndokwa East/Ndokwa West/Ukwani Federal Constituency in Delta State, passed its second reading during plenary on Tuesday.
Explaining the general principles of the bill, Ezechi stated that the proposed amendment seeks to alter Section 246(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. The bill aims to replace the current subsection (3) with a new one that reads: “The decisions of the Court of Appeal in respect of appeals arising from the Governorship, National, and State Houses of Assembly election petitions shall be final.”
Ezechi clarified that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Second Alteration) Act of 2010 already altered Section 246(1) by providing that appeals to the Court of Appeal would be as of right from the decisions of the National and State Houses of Assembly, as well as the Governorship Election Tribunals. However, the Act did not address governorship election petitions, allowing them to proceed to the Supreme Court. The new bill seeks to make the Court of Appeal the final court for all election petitions.
According to Ezechi, this change would allow the final winner of a governorship election to be known without unnecessary delays. If a candidate declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prevails in the Court of Appeal, they could begin governance without further distractions. He also noted that resolving election disputes at the appellate court would reduce costs, saving financial resources currently spent on taking cases to the Supreme Court.
The bill, after passing the second reading, was referred to the House Committee on Constitution Review, chaired by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, for further legislative action.
