LAGOS lawyer Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has faulted the Attorney
General for the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar
Malami, on his letter to the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
In the said letter, Malami had advised INEC to postpone the
general elections in Zamfara State, to accommodate a ruling of the
Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal, purportedly directing the
electoral body to allow the Zamfara State chapter of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) field candidates for the upcoming
elections.
Falana said by virtue of Section 158 (1) of the 1999
Constitution, INEC “shall not be subject to the direction or
control of any authority or person”.
The lawyer said: “Furthermore, the proviso to Section 160 of the
amended Constitution states that the powers of INEC ‘to make its
own rules or otherwise regulate its own procedures shall not be
subject to the approval or control of the President’.
“Therefore, the AGF lacks the vires to advise or direct INEC to
postpone the elections scheduled to hold in any state of the
federation. Since the judgment of the Court of Appeal on the
nomination of APC candidates in Zamfara State admits of no
ambiguity, INEC is advised to do the needful and ignore the
directive of the AGF on the conduct of the elections.”