What Nigerians Want Buhari To Do With The 2018 Electoral Act Amendment Bill

Nigeria
By Emmanuel Ike
Muhammadu-Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari

Nigerians from all works of life have taken to the social media to react to the recent calls made by the National Assembly to President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill before the time stipulated by law elapses.

The amendment, if signed into law, makes the use of the card readers statutory and the only instrument of accreditation, thereby permanently doing away with the incident forms in the 2019 general election and other upcoming elections.

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The bill hence provides for electronic transmission of results from polling unit to collation centres.

Recall that the Federal Lawmakers had on October 23 passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and transmitted same to the Presidency on November 7, but President Buhari is yet to sign the bill.

The National Assembly had also expressed concern about the delay in the signing of the bill into law, as the one month period provided by the law for the president to sign a bill presented to him expires on December 6th.

The Legislative arm had to rework two earlier versions of the bill, which they had forwarded to the president for assent, following certain observations Buhari raised.

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The Senate President, Bukola Saraki had claimed that the observation that the President had raised was handled in such a way it accommodated his interests: “My position remains that the president, his aides, the entire country and the international community are aware that all the concerns raised by the president on the past three occasions he withheld assent to the bill have been addressed by the legislature.

“We bent backwards on each occasion to accommodate the wishes of the president. We started work on this law since 2016 to prevent a situation where it would become part of the election controversies.

“Every sincere commentator, observer and analyst know that what we have done with that bill is to raise the level of transparency, credibility and acceptability of our electoral process. We made sure that the law, if assented to and honestly applied by INEC and all those concerned, will give us an election that will be better than what we had in 2015.

“The president should know that the survival of democracy, its development and the future of Nigeria are far more important than the ambition of any individual or party. I am using this opportunity to call on President Buhari to put a stop to this uncertainty in the political process by signing without delay the 2018 Electoral Act Amendment Bill so as to allow INEC and the concerned parties know how to prepare for a credible process,” Saraki had said.

By the provision of the law, the president has 30 days within which to append his signature to any bill transmitted to him or decline assent to it.

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Today, being December 6 will make the end of the 30 days that the president has to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

Some political groups have also called on the President to give assent to the bill, one of such groups is the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) who alleged that the continued refusal of President Buhari in signing of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, was a deliberate plot by the ruling party to derail the 2019 elections through rigging.

“It is now about 28 days since the National Assembly forwarded to the President and for the 4th time, necessary amendments to the Electoral Act.

“The President has not signed the amendment, we are also sad to say this to you that there is intelligence that the President has agreed with his kitchen cabinet not to sign the amendment into law,” CUPP said in a statement.

From the opinions gathered on Twitter, THE WHISTLER observed that majority of Nigerians strongly favour the opinion that the President should immediately give assent to the amended bill.

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However, there are few persons who urge the President not to sign the bill.

Recall that last Monday, three political parties Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance, (APDA), Allied Peoples Movement, (APM) and Movement for Restoration and Defence of Democracy, (MRDD); approached Court, seeking an order of the court to stop President Buhari from assenting to the Bill.

The parties amongst other reasons said the timing is unsuitable and portends grave danger to the 2019 election if signed into law.

“A proper voter education and demonstration of electronic voting system is required to be done in all 36 states of the federation, the FCT and the 774 local government areas before such a bill can be introduced to the electoral process. This is a strong reason why the President must withhold assent until after the 2019 election,” they said.

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