Worried by the continued delay in assenting to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, a Civil Society group has challenged lawmakers to deploy their full constitutional power of veto President Muhammadu Buhari.
The National Assembly passed the Electoral Amendment Act 2021 on November 9, 2021, and subsequently transmitted the same to the presidency for assent.
Incidentally, the executive arm of government (The President FRN) is yet to act on the Amendment Bill, with only a few days to the expiration of the 30 days window period after which the National Assembly is constitutionally empowered to veto the bill.
The group under the aegis of Organisation for Community Civic Engagement (OCCEN) insisted that the presidency has no justification to continue foot-dragging on the bill, which they believe would bring a solution to electoral challenges that the nation’s policy has been struggling with.
Addressing a press conference in Kano, the OCCEN Executive Director, Abdulrazaq Alkali, who applauded the commitment of the National Assembly for concluding legislative work on the Amendment Bill, alleged possible sabotage from the executive arm against the actualisation of the Act.
Specifically, Alkali hailed the adoption of the direct primary as a form of candidate selection in the party system, which he believed, “would enhance transparency in the nomination of candidates and eliminate godfather-ism”.
He said; “The present indirect system has not only denied female candidates’ chances but also crippled the ‘Not Too Young to Run’ Act”.
Alkali was worried that in the event of denying assent, President Muhammad Buhari may have placed more priority on few powerful political blocks that are being threatened by the possibility of losing the power of imposition they have in the party when the bill is eventually signed into law.
He said; “OCCEN is fully backing the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and another civil society group in their recent letter written to the Presidency, asking the executive not to yield to pressure from state governors and other selfish politicians opposing the signing of the bill.
“Unfortunately, with only a few days left to the deadline, the president is yet to assent on the bill and has been foot-dragging and unjustifiably delaying on the bill. Nigerians should be worried about this development because it appears that the president is listening and giving priority to some powerful politicians.”
“Sadly, this is an issue is taking a similar approach, how the president ignores the bill and left Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the poll with 2010 Electoral Act. The president needs to put aside the selfish interest of a category of politicians and focus on what is in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.
“It is imperative that the president should demonstrate courage and leadership to uphold and protect our democracy. It is understood that the president has written to INEC seeking advice regarding the Electoral Amendment Bill. However, this seems like tactics adopted by the presidency to reject the bill. But the president should understand that history will not forgive him if he refused to assent on the bill,” Alkali said.
Source: The Guardian