Top APC Member Begins Move To Allow Buhari Contest 3rd Term

A top member of the Ebonyi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Charles Enya, has filed a suit seeking to amend the constitution to allow President Muhammadu Buhari contest for a third term.

Enya, who served as organising secretary to Buhari during the 2019 general election, filed the suit (FHC/AI/CS/90/19) before a federal high court in Abakiliki, Daily Trust reports.

The APC Chieftain said the two-term tenure limit for presidents and governors was not enough.

Enya urged the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, as well as the national assembly, to remove constitutional clauses restricting elected presidents and governors to just two terms.

The defendants in the suit include Mohammed Sani-Omolori, clerk of the national assembly; the national assembly; and Malami.

Naija News reports that Section 137 (1)(b) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, provides that “a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections”. While section 182 (1)(b) states that “no person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections”.

The APC member is seeking possible expungement of both sections. According to him, “that section 137(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 (as amended) restricting the president to only two terms of four years each, is inoperative by virtue of its discriminatory nature in relation to the executive and legislative branches of government in Nigeria, and therefore null and void and thus inapplicable”.

He is seeking an “order of the court nullifying and setting aside section 137(1)(b) and 182(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). And directing the first and second defendants to delete and expunge sections 137(1)(b) and 182(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (as amended).”