The Federal High Court in Abuja declared that the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice lack the power and authority to prosecute vote buying and other offences under the Electoral Act, 2022.
Justice Inyang Ekwo delivered the judgment in a suit filed by Oladipupo Adebutu, the 2023 Ogun governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and nine others against the AGF.
The plaintiffs had asked the court to stop the AGF from prosecuting them over allegations of vote buying leveled against them by Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Plaintiffs’ Case
The plaintiffs’ legal team argued that, based on Sections 153, 158, and 160 and Paragraph 15, Part 1, Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, the AGF cannot initiate, commence, or continue the prosecution of electoral offences under the Electoral Act, 2022.
They contended that the prosecution of electoral offences remains the exclusive…
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