Election sequence: Court stops Senate, Reps

The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the National Assembly to stop taking further actions on the controversial Electoral Act amendment Bill.  Naija News Gathers

Justice Ahmed Mohammed issued the restraining order which will last until March 17, the next hearing date. The Electoral Act amendment Bill seeks to reorder the sequence with which the Independent National Electoral Commission should conduct the 2019 general elections.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Tuesday, informed the National Assembly that he had withheld his assent to the bill which was earlier passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. Naija News Learnt

Delivering a ruling on an oral application by the plaintiff counsel Wole Olanipekun, Justice Mohammed held that the restraining order was made to preserve the substance of the main suit.

He added that if no restraining order was issued and the National Assembly went ahead to exercise its powers under Section 58(5) of the Constitution by overriding the President’s withholding of assent that the essence of the  suit would have been defeated.