Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to ignore the letter written by Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Minister of Justice, urging the electoral body to postpone elections in Zamfara state to allow the All Progressives Congress, APC, field candidates.
According to a statement issued last night, Falana argued that 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 senior lawyer added that the 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.”
He argued: “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.”
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