By Igho Akeregha, Ben Ogbemudia and Linus Aleke, Abuja
There are indications that many political appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari, including ministers and special advisers, who nurse the ambition to seek elective offices in the 2023 general elections now have less than two months to resign their positions.

ThisNigeria checks revealed that quite a number of the appointees who looked to participate in the party primaries while remaining in office may now have a rethink as the conflict that arose from the amended Electoral Act and the constitution remain unsolved.

Among the top Buhari appointees who will now quit their positions before the June 2022 deadline given to all political parties to hold their primary are the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, Attorney-General of the Federation, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Silver.

Amaechi has declared his interest to run for the Presidency, Ngige has said he would declare before the Easter celebration, Malami wants to be governor of Kebbi State, and Sylvia plans to return to Bayelsa as governor.

If these appointees resign their offices will immediately become vacant.

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With barely 11 months to the 2023 general elections, there has been serious contention over the interpretation of extant laws.

Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f), and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution stipulated that government appointees seeking to contest elections are to resign at least 30 days before the election, whereas Section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act states that “No political appointee at any level shall be voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the nomination of candidates for any election.”

Buhari had rejected section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act and asked the National Assembly to delete the section after he signed the amended Act into law on February 25, 2022, but the lawmakers, for the first time in the life of the administration declined a request from the President.

Sources informed ThisNigeria that the Federal Government and some state governors are already complying with the new electoral law and have asked their political appointees who wish to contest elections to vacate their positions.

Despite the directive by the Presidency to serving ministers and other political appointees desirous of seeking elective office in 2023 to resign their position to pursue their ambition, none of them have resigned their appointment.

Many believe that if fully enforced, Section 84(12) of the Amended Electoral Act, will create a level playing field for all aspirants. It will also drastically reduce the undue advantage that statutory delegates automatically give to incumbent executive officeholders during party primaries while section 29(1) of the Act mandates political parties to submit names of candidates not later than 180 days before the election.

As the electoral law came into effect, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) updated the schedule of activities for the general election, giving political parties between April 4 and June 3, 2022, to conduct primaries. This means that political appointees seeking election must resign before June 3, when INEC expects that all issues on party primaries must have been resolved.

At the recently concluded All Progressives Congress (APC) national convention, some appointees of Buhari like Rotimi Amaechi were there as observers.

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Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act is still hotly challenged in courts as a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State, gave an order that makes it possible for political appointees to seek elective offices in the country without resigning their position before the primaries of their political parties.

The ruling is in line with an opinion by President Muhammadu Buhari that the section which mandates such appointees to resign before the party primaries disenfranchise them, and is, therefore, a breach of their fundamental human rights.

The court had ordered the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), to delete section 84 (12) from the amended Electoral Act.

The ruling was made following an ex-parte motion filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking an order of court restraining the National Assembly from effecting President Buhari’s request to remove section 84 (12) from the amended Electoral Act.

While giving her ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadike, ordered Malami to delete Section 84 (12) from the amended Electoral Act without delay.

The court held that any other law that mandates appointees to resign or leave the office at any time before they were due to leave was “unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null and void, to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution.” The PDP on Friday secured an order of the Court of Appeal restraining Malami and other persons from deleting the section.

Speaking on section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 recently, Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), expressed reservations about the provision.

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He observed that what “It means is that political appointees would be forced to resign their appointment before they can seek for election and become candidates.”

“If the national assembly is saying that in the amended act, why are they not also resigning as legislators before they seek to contest? Why are you limiting to ministers and commissioners?”

But Executive Director, Adopt A Goal Initiative, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, said the section “is a noble electoral provision that will save the nation the enormous government’s resources and instruments usually cornered by political appointees to advance their elective interest”.

“Nigeria suffers double-jeopardy from elected and appointed officials who often use the state’s resources to have an unfair advantage over other contestants,” he said.

“While it is the standard norm in every democracy for elective officials seeking another term of office to remain and vie, however, it is never in the public interest globally for appointees to stay in office once elective interest has been indicated.

Reliable sources have disclosed that many of Buhari’s appointees are not taking any chances as there have intensified their consultations to be sure of a smooth landing before resigning from their positions.