LEGAL PRINCIPLE: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — Election — Disqualification for Election under Section 66(1)(h) of the 1999 Constitution — Whether Decision of Local Government Election Tribunal Constitutes Indictment for Fraud

"The section ordains:— '66(1) No person shall be qualified for election to the Senate or the House of Representatives if — (h) he has been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry or an Administrative Panel of Inquiry or a Tribunal set up under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act, a Tribunal of Inquiry Law or any other law by the Federal or State Government which indictment has been accepted by the Federal or State Government respectively.' … Bearing the above principles of interpretation in mind and being of the view that a law which seeks to disqualify a person from contesting an election on ground of indictment for embezzlement or fraud imposes a disability and ought to be interpreted strictly, it is therefore my view that the expression 'or any other (tribunal) by the Federal or State Government' appearing in the section must be interpreted to be restricted to the tribunals or inquiry or bodies mentioned in the section which were set up to investigate a person of allegations of embezzlement or fraud and whose report of indictment of such person in that regard has been accepted by the Government. It seems to me that by this interpretation, the aforesaid Bendel State Local Government Election Tribunal is not contemplated firstly, because though set up under a Decree or Act of the Federal Government, it was set up to hear election petition and not allegations of embezzlement or fraud, and more relevantly, its decision is not subject to government's acceptance by virtue of its enabling law."