It is no longer a secret: President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. The deadline for him to append his signature to the Bill was Sunday, December 19.
This development has shifted the focus of the nation to the National Assembly. The president is said to have returned the Bill to the Legislature, with a letter asking members to remove the clause on direct primaries from the bill.
That section was created by the Senate in its amendment of the former Electoral Act. It says that “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Bill shall hold direct primaries “for aspirants to all elective positions, which shall be monitored by the Commission.”
It followed this up by adding that: “The procedure for the nomination of candidates by political parties for the various elective positions by direct primaries shall ensure that all aspirants are given equal opportunities of being voted for by members of the party and “given opportunity to have agents for the purpose of monitoring the primaries.”
Sources privy to the President’s decision on this quote him as saying that it would undemocratic to force all political parties in the country. According to the sources, he argued that the parties already have constitutions that have spelt out their various modes of electing their candidates for elections.
This position is not surprising to most people who have followed developments on this bill since it was passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and forwarded the President for his assent. The most vocal opposition to the bill has come from the governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
As the Senate and the House reconvene today, Tuesday, Nigerians are waiting to see how the debate will go on in both chambers of the Assembly. They will do either of two things: remove the clauses that are offensive to the President, and return the paperwork for him to sign, or seek of a two-thirds majority vote to override the President and go ahead and pass the bill into law.
Nigerians will know the outcome in a few hours’ time.
