Section 132
Establishment of Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal(1) There is established for the Federal Capital Territory the Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal which shall to the exclusion of any other court or tribunal hear and determine appeals arising from the decision of the Area Council Election Petition Tribunal.
(2) The decision of the Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal in respect of Area Council elections shall be final.
(3) An Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal shall consist of a Chairman and two other members and the Chairman shall be a Judge of the High Court and the two other members shall be appointed from among Judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Kadis of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Judges of the Customary Court of Appeal or other members of the Judiciary of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, not below the rank of a Chief Magistrate.
(4) The Chairman and other members of the Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal shall be appointed by the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
(5) The Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal shall—
(a) be constituted not later than 14 days before the election; and
(b) when constituted, open their registries for business not later than 30 days after the election.
(6) The quorum of the Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal when hearing any appeal from decisions of the Area Council Election Tribunal shall be all three members of the Appeal Tribunal.
(7) An election petition shall be filed within 21 days after the date of the declaration of result of the elections.
(8) The Tribunal shall deliver a judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filing of the petition.
(9) An appeal from a decision of an Area Council Election Tribunal shall be heard and disposed of within 60 days from the date of the delivery of judgment of the Tribunal.
(10) The Court in all appeals from Election Tribunal may adopt the practice of first giving its decision and reserving the reason to a later date.
This Section seeks to provide avenue for seeking redress for complaints emanating from the judgment of the Area Council Elections Tribunal into the office of Chairman or Councillor of any of the Area Council of the FCT.
It provides for the establishment of the Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal to hear and determine all appeals arising from the Judgment of the Area Council Election Tribunal, its composition, jurisdiction and quorum.
Unlike the 2010 Electoral Act (S.136), the timelines for petitions are included and aligned to be the same with those of other elective offices as contained in section 285 of the Constitution as follows:
The election petition shall be filed within 21 days after the day of declaration of the result
Judgment in writing to be delivered within 180 days from date of filing petition (section 131 (6) of the Act has a contradictory provision of 90 days)
Appeal from the Area Council Election Tribunal to be heard and disposed of within 60 days of date of delivery of judgment of tribunal.
NB: There is no stated timeline for filing appeals from the Area Council Election Tribunal to the Area Council Election Appeal Tribunal.
It also states unequivocally that the quorum for the Appeal Tribunal when hearing appeals from the decision of the Area Council Election tribunal shall be all three members of the appeal tribunal - 132 (6).
