President Muhammadu Buhari has declined assent to the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment bill, stating that signing it into law would cause trouble among the political parties in the country.
It was reported that the letter of rejection of the bill by President Buhari which had been sent to the Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan would be read today at the plenary.
According to a source, the President refused assent because the parties have their various constitutions that indicate that primaries should be conducted either directly or indirectly and until such provisions are amended, asking parties to pick candidates through direct primaries would mean forcing the parties to conduct primaries through direct means which according to President Buhari, amounts to abuse of the constitutions of the parties.
Other reasons President Buhari gave include high cost of monitoring the primaries of various parties across the country; marginalization of small parties; possible litigation; security challenges of monitoring direct primaries, violation of rights of citizens; and possible manipulation of the primaries.
The source said: “With these reasons, the President has returned the bill to the National Assembly, asking the lawmakers to look at the clause that has to do with direct primaries by political parties, work on it and return the document for assent.”
With these, the governors, Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami; and those opposed to direct primaries have had the upper hand in the push to get President Buhari to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The source said: “With these reasons, the President has returned the bill to the National Assembly, asking the lawmakers to look at the clause that has to do with direct primaries by political parties, work on it and return the document for assent.”
With these, the governors, Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami; and those opposed to direct primaries have had the upper hand in the push to get President Buhari to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Meanwhile, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, said President Buhari’s refusal to assent the bill was part of a plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to rig the 2023 polls, adding that the APC-led National Assembly does not have the capacity to override the president.
According to him, APC leaders are worried over the provision on electronic transmission of results, which would make it difficult to rig election and not direct primaries.
Efforts to get the APC to speak on the issue, last night, did not bear fruits. However, a member of the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, told Vanguard that the party is yet to see the President’s letter and would issue a detailed response later.
We’ll meet today – Reps spokesman
Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Ben Kalu told Vanguard that the House would meet on the matter Tuesday (today).
“The House has not met after the expiration of the 30 days (of sending the bill to the president for his assent). We will be meeting for the first time on Tuesday. It’s then we will know if there is any communication and what the communication says. We will meet over whatever communication that we receive. So, until the House sits, I have nothing to say to you,” he said.
Electronic transmission of results, target of veto — Wike
However, Governor Wike, has stated that the National Assembly lacks the courage to override President Buhari’s non-assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, noting that the actual target of the veto was electronic transmission of election results
Wike said the development was part of the APC, scheme to deny Nigerians free, fair and transparent election in 2023, adding that the only way for Nigerians not to repeat the 2015 and 2019 mistakes of voting the APC-led Federal Government into power was to send them packing in 2023.
The governor spoke at the flag-off of Chokocho-Igbodo Road that was performed by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, yesterday, in Etche LGA of the state, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, recalled that he had raised concerns that President Buhari would not sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law to give legal impetus to electronic transmission of election results.
He stated that having known the modus operandi, style and strategy of the APC, it was obvious to him and all discerning minds that the clause on direct primaries was inserted into the Electoral Act amendment bill as a ploy for the president to refuse assent to the bill.
According to him, the APC members are afraid that if results are transmitted electronically, they will not survive the 2023 general elections.
Wike said: “Three weeks ago, I told Nigerians that there is a conspiracy not to have a free, fair, transparent election in 2023 and that the conspiracy was very clear. And I told Nigerians, Mr. President will not sign the Electoral Act amendment bill.
“What APC resolved in the meeting they had was that their problem is not necessarily direct primaries, but the electronic transmission of result in 2023. If they allow that, obviously APC will lose the election in 2023 and they told themselves that the only way we can survive that was to include direct primaries in the bill so that Mr. President can use that as an excuse, that he will not sign the bill.”
Wike accused APC governors and their National Assembly members of deceiving Nigerians that they were engaged in a battle of supremacy over the issue of direct primaries, whereas they had secretly agreed to scuttle the possibility of transmitting election result electronically in 2023.
Governor Wike said, unfortunately, the National Assembly does not have what it takes to veto the President’s refusal to assent to the bill.
According to him, lawmakers are not interested in protecting the interest of Nigerians and ensure that elections are free and fair with electronic transmission of election results.
“Unfortunately, you don’t have a National Assembly that has what it takes, that will stand for the people, and that will say look, we were elected by the people and we want to give the people the best. Nobody in the National Assembly, not even the leadership can have what it takes to say, ‘Mr President for the interest of Nigerians we are going to veto your refusal,” he said.
Performing the flag-off, Governor Makinde described Governor Wike as a visionary leader whose pattern of development is creating economic corridor, not only within Rivers State but also linking it up to the neighboring three states.