Senate Blames Reps For Failure To Override President On Electoral Act

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday failed to override President Muhammadu Buhari on Electoral Act after returning from a closed-door session, with majority of the senators who had signed to override the President saying their hands were tied as the House of Representatives has adjourned.

Although the Senators had known that the House had adjoined after Tuesday’s plenary, they still have the impression that the senate would override the president.

It emerged on Wednesday morning that some governors tried to penetrate the rank of the senators who had indicated their interests to join forces against the president to stop them from going ahead with the override but our correspondent could not verify that claim.

But the morning was full of activities at the Senate with some senators holding brief meetings among themselves while waving to journalists that they should expect something big.

True to their words, in an apparent move to override the President, the senators dissolved into a closed-door session to deliberate on the letter received on Tuesday from President Muhammadu Buhari, explaining his reasons for not signing the Electoral Act into law.

The presiding officer, Ahmad Lawan, who’s the president and chairman of National Assembly announced that the senate will dissolve into an executive session to take a position on the withholding of assent to the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment bill.

Voting machine to conceal voting was even brought into the senate chamber and tested, ready for voting.

But when the senate returned from the executive session, Lawan announced that there will be no voting, explaining that the upper chamber had decided to consult with ‘members of the House of Representatives on the matter.”

According to him, since the House had gone on recess and the “constitution prescribes that both chambers should take a joint decision on the matter,” it will be proper for them to wait till January before any action could be taken.

Lawan also said the Senate in the closed session agreed that members should consult with their “constituencies who are critical stakeholders in the electoral process.”

THE WHISTLER had reported that about 80 senators had by Tuesday signed to override President Buhari on the Electoral Act.

The president had said there was the need to leave decisions on how to manage political parties to the parties, among other reasons

The Senate had extended plenary by one day to Wednesday, and quickly moved into an Executive session.

But after the decision to stand down legislative override was arrived at, some senators blamed the development on their House counterparts who had ended their year’s activities, and reflected in what Lawan said.

They however said that the issue of overriding the president was not dead yet, with official statement expected.

The House had also stated on Tuesday that the electoral act matter and the need to override the President will be brought back in January at resumption of plenary.

The House Speaker, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila explained that there was little time left for the year’s business adding that January will be best to handle the issue.

If signed into law, the electoral act would have provided key amendments into the Nigerian electoral system, namely making it mandatory for all political parties to employ direct primaries to select their candidates for elections, and also legalising the use of electronic transmission of results in all elections.