The House of Representatives is considering a bill to amend the 1999 Constitution to make the Court of Appeal the final court for resolving disputes related to governorship, National Assembly, and State Houses of Assembly elections in Nigeria.
The bill, sponsored by Nnamdi Ezechi, the lawmaker representing the Ndokwa East/Ndokwa West/Ukwani Federal Constituency in Delta State, passed its second reading on the floor of the House during plenary on Tuesday.
Explaining the general principles behind the bill, Ezechi noted that the proposed legislation seeks to amend Section 246 of the 1999 Constitution, particularly subsection (3).
The bill proposes deleting the current subsection (3) and replacing it with a new provision 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 argued that this amendment would ensure that the winner of a governorship election is determined without delay.
