The Court of Appeal on Wednesday set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, which voided the provision of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act 2022.

The appellate court ruled that the Umuahia High Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the case because the plaintiff, Nduka Edede, lacked the locus standi to have filed the suit in the first place.

A three-member panel of the court headed by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka delivered the judgment.

It held that the plaintiff failed to establish any cause of action to have warranted him approaching the court over the matter because he did not establish that he was directly affected by the provision.

The Court of Appeal struck out the suit marked: FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, which Edede filed before the Umuahia court.

The panel ruled that the provision is unconstitutional because it violated Section 42 (1)(a) of the Constitution and denied a class of Nigerian citizens their right to participate in an election.