A body formed to promote law, equity and justice, the Law and Order Group, has picked holes in a recent statement credited to Mr. Femi Falana, that former President Goodluck Jonathan was not qualified to contest the 2023 presidential election.
It argued that the position was not only erroneous but also misconceived.
The group pointed out that the senior lawyer only placed reliance on the provisions of the said Section 137(3) (supra) of the constitution.
“In the first place, the 4th alteration to the constitution which introduced Section 137(3) was signed into law as part of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) by President Mohammadu Buhari in June 2018. The said Section 137 (3) contains a commencement date which is the date it was signed into law. Thus, the provisions of Section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution (4th alteration) became operative on June 7, 2018 and not any time before that date.
“The law is settled beyond controversy or dispute that a law does not take effect retroactively. Again, it is the law that, where a piece of legislation sets out a specific commencement date, as in the case of Section 137 (3), all rights, duties, obligations and interests created or intended to be created or imposed by that law will not be applicable to rights, events or duties which accrued or occurred before then,” it explained.
The group further stated that the courts have, over the years, declared retroactive application of laws as reprehensive and abusive, stressing that the provisions of Section 137(3) of the 1999 constitution was not and would not present an exception simply because some persons desire it to be so.