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August 22, 2026|22:06

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US court nullifies Trump visa ban on Nigeria, 74 other countries

Business Day about 3 hours 1 mins read

NDC loses bid to void Electoral Act clauses on candidate qualification, party registers By Ladi Patrick-Okwoli The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) seeking to invalidate sections of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to candidate qualification and political party membership registers. In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, Muhammed Umar, presiding judge, held that section 138 of the Act, which excludes candidate qualification from grounds for election petitions, is not inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution. Umar ruled that the provision complements the constitutional framework by setting out the process and timeline for challenging the eligibility of candidates before elections. “The provision of Section 138 of the Electoral Act 2026 complements the provision of the Constitution but is not in conflict with it. The contention of the plaintiff that Section 138 is inconsistent with the Constitution is of no merit,” the judge held. The NDC had approached the court seeking declarations invalidating Section 138 and Section 77(5) of the Electoral Act. The party argued that questions relating to candidate qualification should remain open to challenge after elections. However, the court held that the Constitution defines the qualifications and disqualifications for elective positions, while the Electoral Act provides the procedure through which such issues can be contested. According to Umar, any aggrieved person has the opportunity to challenge a candidate’s qualification at the pre-election stage. On section 77(5), which requires political parties to submit membership registers to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at least 21 days before primaries, congresses or conventions, the court held that the issue had already been determined by the Court of Appeal. Umar said the appellate court’s decision striking down the provision remains the binding legal position. The court also upheld a preliminary objection filed by the clerk of the National Assembly, who argued that the NDC failed to comply with the mandatory pre-action notice requirement before instituting the suit. The judge held that the failure rendered the suit incompetent and liable to be struck out. The court further ruled that the attachment of INEC’s election timetable to the originating summons did not transform the matter into a pre-election dispute under section 285 of the Constitution. “The fact that the defendant’s timetable is attached cannot make the case fall within the contemplation of Section 285,” Umar said. The Attorney-General of the Federation, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and INEC were listed as defendants in the suit. The ruling comes weeks after the Court of Appeal invalidated sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 in a separate case filed by the Zenith Party. The appellate court held that the provisions, which regulate party membership registers and candidate nomination processes, conflicted with sections 221 and 222 of the Constitution, which protect the autonomy of political parties in selecting candidates for elections.

US court nullifies Trump’s visa ban on Nigeria, 74 other countries By Ojochenemi Onje, Abuja A United States federal judge

This article was sourced from an external publication.

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