The Supreme Court on Friday struck out a suit filed by President Muhammad Buhari and his attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to challenge the controversial section 84(12) of the Electoral Act.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Musa Dattijo-Muhammad, unanimously struck out the suit, describing it as an abuse of court process.

Aokmaye Agim, who delivered the lead judgement, held that Buhari, having earlier assented to section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act 2022, cannot turn around to approach the court to strike it down.

“There is no provision in the constitution that vests the president the power to challenge the constitutionality or desirability of a legislation after he has assented or denied his assent. In this case, the president gave his assent,” Agim ruled.

He added that the request by Buhari to the National Assembly to delete the provision amounted to constitutional violation.

Agim described the suit as a ploy by Buhari to get the court to validate the violation.

“The president has no power to request or compel the national assembly to amend any part of the Act of the National Assembly in which he has participated in its making, “he added.

Agim said, “This suit cannot be entertained by this court under section 1(1) (a) of the Additional Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court Act. “

Other members of the panel consented to the lead judgement. They are Dattijo-Muhammad, John Okoro, Amina Augie, Lawal Garba and Ibrahim Saulawa.

Buhari had signed the Electoral Act 2022 into law on February 25, 2022.

But he later wrote the National Assembly to delete section 84(12) of the law on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and was made in excess of the powers of the National Assembly.

The National Assembly rejected the request.

The legal provision bars political appointees at any level from being a voting delegate or be voted for primary election purposes.

The controversial clause in the Electoral Amendment Act 2022, provides that “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”

Following the refusal of the National Assembly to delete the provision, Buhari, along with Malami, filed the suit against the provision at the Supreme Court.

They joined the National Assembly as the sole defendant, but the Rivers State government and the Nigerian Bar Association later sought and obtained the court’s leave to be joined as defendants to oppose the suit.

In the suit marked SC/CV/504/2022 and filed on April 29, 2022, Buhari and Malami sought an order of the Supreme Court striking out the section of the Electoral Act, which they argue was inconsistent with the nation’s constitution.

The plaintiffs contended that the Section 84 (12) of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2022 is inconsistent with the provisions of sections 42, 65, 66, 106, 107, 131, 137, 147, 151, 177, 182, 192 and 196 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended), as well Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and People and Peoples Rights.

The plaintiffs also contended that the Nigerian constitution already provides qualification and disqualification for the offices of the President and Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor, Senate and House of Representatives, House of Assembly, Ministers, Commissioners and Special Advisers.

The Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi, says there is more of internal trafficking than external trafficking.

Waziri-Azi disclosed this on Thursday in Benin at a meeting she held with stakeholders and partners of the agency in Edo.

She explained that this was because 83 per cent of trafficking in Nigeria happened within states, within communities, and across state lines, adding that only 12 per cent accounts for trans-border trafficking.

“Simply because the media spotlight on people in Italy and all that, we think we have more of trans-border trafficking.

“No, Internal trafficking is happening before our eyes. Domestic servitude is a crisis in Nigeria, and forced labour too.

“Human trafficking is, therefore, a national crisis. Every state is affected, though each state has its own peculiarity”, she said.

She sued for more sensitisation of the public against human trafficking, noting that there was huge ignorance of the public on issues relating to human trafficking.

Waziri-Azi urged the participants to focus on sensitisation.

“Gone are the days when we think human trafficking is offline, it’s now online. So we have an increase in fake jobs advertorials and fake scholarships.

“These are the modern trends human traffickers use in luring their victims, with Dubai, India and Cyprus the trending destinations,” she said.

The director-general, who described human trafficking as a 150-billion-dollar criminal enterprise and the second trans-national organised crime after drug trafficking, said that human trafficking was an enterprise for professional criminals.

She explained that this was because there were two sides to the crime, as there were the professional criminals’ enterprise who trafficked people for the sole purpose of killing them and harvesting their organs.

She added that this was because there was at present a global shortage of organs for transplant.

She disclosed that the flip side of human trafficking was recruiters who actively target vulnerable communities to recruit their victims.

Waziri-Azi, however, said that some Nigerians fell prey to the human traffickers because of misinformation and disinformation.

She called for a robust continued synergy among all stakeholders to stem the tide of human trafficking.

Earlier, Nduka Nwanwenne, Zonal Commander, Benin Zonal Command, in his opening remarks, disclosed that since the creation of the zonal command, no fewer than 774 suspected human traffickers had been arrested in the zone.

He also said that the zone had secured 80 convictions of arraigned human traffickers since its creation of the zone.

He said 2,695 survivors, comprising 144 males and 2,551 females, had passed through the NAPTIP shelter.

Nwanwenne noted that partnership was key element in the fight against human trafficking.

He pledged to continue to carry out the mandate of the agency with support from stakeholders.

“We can change the narrative on human trafficking”, he pointed out.