President Muhammadu Buhari has again declined assent to the amended electoral bill.
Buhari’s decision was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, saying that the President has communicated his position on the matter to the lawmakers.
Buhari said he “principally” declined assent to Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2018 as it will “provide opportunity for disruption and confusion” to electoral laws ahead of the 2019 general election.
In a letter dated December 6, 2018, to the Speaker of House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, Buhari said his refusal to sign the bill into law was in the ‘best interest of the country and our democracy” and requested that the National Assembly should move the enactment of the bill to after the February 2019 election.
“It is in the best interest of the country and our democracy for the National Assembly to specifically state in the bill, that Electoral Act will come into effect and be applicable to elections commencing after 2019 general elections,” Buhari said.
The President had declined assent to the bill three times citing “drafting issues”.
He also listed the outstanding amendments to be made to the Bill.
“Section 5 of the Bill, amending section 18 of the Principal Act should indicate the subsection to which the substitution of the figure “30” for the figure “60” is to be affected.
“Section 11 of the Bill, amending Section 36 should indicate the subsection in which the proviso is to be introduced.
“Section 24 of the Bill which amends Section 85 (1) should be redrafted in full as the introduction of the “electing” to the sentence may be interpreted to mean that political parties may give 21 days notice of the intention to merge, as opposed to the 90 days provided in Section 84 (2) of the Electoral Act which provides the provision for merge of political parties.”
But following his latest refusal, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) has charged the National Assembly to save the nation’s democracy by immediately overriding the President.
The PDP Campaign said in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by Kola Ologbondiyan, its Director, Media & Publicity, that the legislative action has become imperative as the President’s decision is a calculated attempt to hold the nation to ransom, inject crisis into the electoral process and ultimately scuttle the conduct of the 2019 general elections, seeing that there is no way he can win in a free and fair contest.
It said Buhari’s repeated refusal to sign amendments passed to check rigging in the election, raises issues of his sincerity of purpose and has the capacity to trigger political unrest and violence, which can, in turn, truncate our hard-earned democracy.
The PPCO invited Nigerians to note that this is the fourth time President Buhari is withholding assent on the amendment, without any cogent reason following his rejection by Nigerians.
It added: “Nigerians can recall how the Buhari Presidency plotted to plunge the 2019 elections into a needless controversy by delaying the submission of the election budget to the National Assembly, presenting it at the time the legislators were commencing their annual vacation and asking for virement of funds already approved for development projects, instead of sending a fresh supplementary budget for the election.
“It is unfortunate that Mr. President, in his desperation to hold on to power, has resorted to taking steps that are capable of destabilizing our nation, just because the people are resolute in voting him out of office democratically.
“It is also instructive to note that President Buhari is mortally afraid of the amendments because they essentially checked the All Progressives Congress (APC) rigging plans, including the use of underage and alien voters, vote-buying, alteration of results and manipulation of voter register; for which the APC and the Buhari Presidency have been boasting of winning the 2019 elections.”
While urging the National Assembly to save our democracy and forestall an imminent electoral crisis, the PPCO also charged all political parties, other critical stakeholders and Nigerians in general, to rise in the interest of the nation and demand the entrenching of rules and processes that will guarantee the conduct of free, fair and credible elections, “as nothing short of that would be accepted.”