Candidate Disqualification: SAN Says Reps Cannot Use Letters to Remove Aspirants

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr Monday Ubani, has taken a swipe at the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Amendment over its reported directive to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify candidates whose names have already been published.

Ubani, in a reaction shared on Facebook handle, questioned the legal basis of the committee’s directive, insisting that an ordinary letter from a House committee cannot amend the Electoral Act, confer new powers on INEC or enlarge the orders of the Supreme Court.

The controversy followed reports that the committee wrote INEC, directing the commission to disqualify some candidates purportedly on the strength of the recent Supreme Court judgment in INEC v. ZLP & Ors.

But Ubani fired back: Did the Supreme Court actually order INEC to disqualify the candidates?
“Let me ask two simple questions: First, is that what the Supreme Court actually decided?
“Second, since when does an ordinary letter from a House Committee constitute law or confer new powers on INEC?” he asked.

The SAN maintained that the powers of INEC are governed by the Constitution and relevant electoral laws, arguing that a committee of the National Assembly cannot, through a letter, create a fresh ground for disqualification of candidates.

“A Committee letter cannot amend the Electoral Act, create a new power of disqualification, or enlarge the orders of the Supreme Court,” he declared.

He further challenged the committee to identify the legal authority under which it was asking INEC to take such action.

“If the Supreme Court did not order INEC to disqualify candidates by what authority is a House Committee attempting to achieve that through a letter?” Ubani asked.

The development has thrown up fresh questions over the limits of legislative committees in electoral matters, particularly whether a committee can issue directives capable of altering the legal status of candidates already cleared and published by INEC.

For Ubani, the answer is clear: a committee letter is not law, and it cannot substitute for a court order or an amendment to the Electoral Act.

Concluding his intervention, the SAN said: “I laugh in Swahili.”