Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill: Senate steps down action to override Buhari

PRESIDENT of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday said the Senate would consult with the House of Representatives on how to respond to President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill. 

Lawan made this known after the upper chamber rose from a closed session held to deliberate on the president’s decision to withhold assent to the bill as passed by the National Assembly. 

He said the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) does not permit the upper chamber to exclusively take any action on such matters without the involvement of the House of Representatives. 

Lawan, however, assured that a joint position would be reached with the House when both chambers reconvene from the Christmas break, after due consultation with Nigerians. 

Speaking on what transpired in the closed session, Lawan said, “The Senate in a closed session deliberated on matters relevant to its workings in particular and the National Assembly in general. 

“The Senate also discussed how to respond to the letter from President Buhari on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. 

“The Senate consequently resolved to consult with the House of Representatives in January when both the Senate and House will be in session. 

“The Senate also resolved to consult with our constituents during our recess.” 

Reacting, former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, urged the National Assembly to act fast, adding that one contentious clause should not be a reason to throw away all the positives in the proposed Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill. 

He said the two options open to the National Assembly is to either override the president’s decline of assent or remove the contentious provision on direct primaries and send the bill back to the president for his assent. 

“Whichever option our legislators choose can be accomplished in the shortest possible time. We could have a new electoral law in January 2022. 

“Anyone that has been following the mood of the nation knows that Nigerians desire to have a new electoral law that will lead to having a credible, free, fair and peaceful process of electing our leaders.

“This proposed electoral law is expected to reassure the youth, many of whom steer clear of the political process because they have no confidence in the system. They believe the system is usually rigged and compromised. 

“One way to bring this active demography into the political system is to enact a new law that will give them hope in our nation. This Electoral Act [Amendment] Bill serves that purpose,” he said. 

He asked members of the National Assembly to take a decision in the interest of the nation and its long-term democracy. 

Civil Society Partners on Electoral Reform on Wednesday asked the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, to step down, accusing him of betraying Nigerians and using the House to serve “personal and narrow political interest.” 

The CSOs said the action of the speaker in passing the 2022 Appropriation Act and adjourning session till next year amounted to a betrayal of trust and arm-twisting of the Senate to stop further action on the bill. 

They recalled that the Senate had passed a version of the electoral bill that accommodated the two choices of party primaries, but wondered why Gbajabiamila, who singlehandedly led the National Assembly and Nigerians into adopting and appreciating the importance of the direct primaries, will be the first to chicken out. 

According to the statement signed by Ariyo-Dare Atoye, the Executive Director, Adopt A Goal for Development Initiative, Ken Eze of Speak Out Africa Initiative, Jude Feranmi of Raising New Voices and Obinna Eze Nwagbara, Executive Director, Youth and Students Advocates for Development Initiative, the CSOs said they had expected some legislative activism in the House over the president’s letter, but the Speaker made it impossible. 

“Remember, the exclusive retention of direct primaries in the Electoral Act was first his idea, so why did Gbajabiamila deliberately refuse to consult the Senate to take a common position before adjourning over such a sensitive bill that has enjoyed the cooperation and support of the two chambers? 

“Nigerians have lost total confidence in Gbajabiamila as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. This is the time for him to step down and stop using national legislative business to serve narrow partisan interest,” the CSOs said. 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of scuttling the signing of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, alleging that some of its key provisions “will not allow the grand design to rig the 2023 general elections.” 

In a statement issued by Debo Ologunagba, its national publicity secretary, the party alleged that the APC had been in trepidation of the amendment to the Electoral Act, due to the provision of electronic transmission of election results. According to the PDP, it was apparent that the APC and the Presidency were never committed to the amendment of the Electoral Act to ensure credible elections and, as such, triggered the controversy of the mode of primaries by political parties as a camouflage to scuttle the entire process. 

“The main reason for the manipulation of the legislative process by the APC is to prevent the electronic transmission of results so that it can continue in its culture of rigging and electoral impunities, including alteration of results at collation, ballot box snatching, destruction of data, among others, just to cling to power against the will of Nigerians. 

“Having been rejected for its failures and having also selfdecimated its structure across the country, the APC has completely lost the capacity and goodwill for electoral contest and as such seeks every means to subvert any process that can guarantee credible elections in 2023. 

“The subversion of the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by the APC further validates the fact that the APC is averse to the aspiration of Nigerians and does not believe in democratic principles of credible elections,” the PDP said. 

The South-West zonal leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) tasked the National Assembly to override the veto of President Buhari and pass the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2021. Coordinator, NANS South West, Mr Adegboye Emmanuel, alongside other members of his executive council, made the call while addressing a press conference in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday. 

The students’ body described direct primaries as the best process of selecting standard-bearers of political parties and urged both the Senate and House of Representatives to get the needed two-third majority to pass the bill. 

Adegboye further argued that the rejection of direct primaries in the bill amounted to denying the mass of Nigerians the opportunity to decide who become standard-bearers of their choice parties. 

The immediate past Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commissioner, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzi, however, justified reasons given by President Buhari for declining assent to the bill. 

Osaze said the the clause on direct primaries does not demand the parties to provide an updated register of members, which is a critical component of the exercise for political parties. He also said the financial implication of direct primaries to INEC and and the security agencies in the country would be too much to bear.

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