Buhari In Dilemma Over Signing Of Electoral Act Amendment Bill

Almost two weeks after receiving the re-amended 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment ) Bill 2022 from the National Assembly, President Muhamnadu Buhari, appears to be in a fix on signing the document into law. 

Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate ), Senator Babajide Omoworare, who spoke yesterday in Abuja, said the president was receiving consultations from the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and other stakeholders on the way forward for the bill.

He said: “A very crucial consultation is going on between Mr President,  Attorney General and other critical stakeholders on the content of the bill for the required assent. If not for this programme, I am supposed to be at the very important meeting, believed to be the major determinant for the fate of the bill.”

He, however, assured Nigerians that the bill would most likely be assented to by the president since issues earlier raised by him in the 2021 edition were elaborately addressed by both chambers of the National Assembly in January. 

“Personally, I think in few days time, Mr President will do the needful since the most contentious aspect of the bill had been addressed in the reworked one transmitted to him on Monday, January 31, 2022. Time is of essence, but I believe that Mr President will do the needful,” he said.

But the assurance given by Omoworare was not enough to douse the apprehension entertained by conveners of the dialogue who received message from the AGF  that his planned consultation with President Buhari prevented him from coming.

Virtually all the discussants at the policy dialogue, from former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega; Country Representative of Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Adebowale Olorunmola and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media, Benjamin Kalu, appealed to President Buhari to assent to the bill without further delay.

Jega in particular said no law or legislation is perfect, but that what was made available now by the lawmakers, is good and manageable for the coming elections.

Representative of INEC at the discourse, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, said to avoid the problem of working on electoral laws at the tail end of conducting elections, INEC should be allowed to drive the process as is done in Ghana.

“The situation at hand now is that roughly a year to the general election, the anticipated laws are not yet approved, meaning that the extant one will be used aside from the fact that the process has not enabled INEC to come up with clear cut guidelines for conduct of the elections,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, the Transition Monitoring Group, (TMG), National Consultative Front (NCFront) and Middle Belt Forum (MBF), yesterday, expressed worry over President Buhari’s delay to assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

They wondered why the bill was still lying on the president’s desk, about 10 days after the National Assembly reworked it to include the three primary options, including direct, indirect and consensus which President Buhari observed were not in the first bill transmitted to him.

Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, Executive Director Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre( CISLAC) and Chairman Transition Monitoring Group, said President Buhari has proved himself to be untrustworthy by delaying assent to the bill after the lawmakers worked on the areas he pointed out.

He said: “President Buhari is just telling us that he doesn’t care about the country and doesn’t care about anybody. It is sad and unfortunate that a president who talks so much about integrity is challenging that integrity. Integrity is about honesty and being consistent. The president pointed out areas he wanted to be corrected before he signs the bill; those areas have been corrected and he is still delaying assent. This will really put the Independent National Electoral Commission in a difficult position to conduct the election.”

On his part, the NCFront Convener and a former presidential adviser, Prof Pat Utomi, said the delay and claims that the president was consulting on the bill before he takes necessary action shows that something was amiss.

President Buhari withheld assent to the amended bill initially transmitted to him in November 2021 and insisted that it restricted the mode for political parties to choose candidates for election to direct primary mode, which he said was undemocratic.

Utomi, however, faulted the position of the president and noted that his understanding of democracy is that the president should consult the party and the people on issues that needed action.

President of the MBF, Dr Bitrus Pogu noted that it was too early to take a definite stand on why the assent is delayed as Buhari has 30 days to do so.

But, a lawyer and former president of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, said President Buhari is playing a power game and alleged an attempt by those who think they own Nigeria to manipulate the system.

Also, the House of Representatives has said that there was no selfish interest in the  Electoral Act Amendment Bill passed by the National Assembly, recently.

Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, Benjamin Kalu, stated this while fielding questions from journalists, yesterday, in Abuja.

He said the National Assembly will not lobby the Presidency to assent to the electoral act amendment bill, as that would amount to interfering with the function of the executive.

“We are three arms of government. Though we are three, we are one government and it will be interfering within the parameters of our mandate not to allow them the independency as proposed by the constitution.

“They should be allowed the free hand to make decisions based on what we have proffered as a reflection of the wishes, hunger and desire of the common Nigerians

“The executive should be able to trust the parliament enough to know that what we speak remains the voice of the people and not our own voices.”

Kalu said the National Assembly was guided by public interest in enacting laws, and that the lawmakers had given Nigerians the electoral law they sought for.

“In view of the dynamics of the society, challenges we have experienced, the 2010 electoral act is obsolete, and therefore, can no longer meet the demands, expectations, ethos and principles of democracy. If we are serious about advancing our democracy, we should stop playing to the gallery. 

“We should do what the public interest says. And what is the public interest? That they want the electoral act amendment bill, as submitted, having incorporated the direct, indirect and consensus. Let us move on and that’s not selfish interest. That’s public interest,” he said.

“Whatever actions that we take, motions moved, resolution and bills that we make, we make not as unto ourselves to the exclusion of others, we make them to the generality of Nigerians because for now, we are members of the parliament. Who knows tomorrow, we might be in the executive or even be outside the government. 

“The laws we make today will be there to govern us in time to come as citizens of this country. So, the element of selfishness should be removed from our ideas on this particular piece of legislation.”

Daily Sun