Rivers activists lambast Buhari over electoral bill

Brave Dickson

More criticisms have continued to trail the withdrawal of assent on the 2018 Electoral Act Amendment bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.

This is the fourth time the president has refused to sign the bill into law.

Buhari in his letter to the Senate and read before the lawmakers, stated that ”Pursuant to section 58(4) of the 1999 constitution as amended, I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision on March 3, 2018, to decline presidential assent to the electoral amendment bill 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly.”

The President said some of his reasons for withholding assent to the bill was that, ”The amendment to the sequence of the elections in section 25 of the principal act may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission, to organise, undertake and supervise all elections provided in section 15(a) of the third schedule to the constitution.”

In their separate views, the Chairman, Civil Society Organisations, Rivers State Chapter, Ene-fa Georgewill who described president Buhari’s reason for withholding assent to the bill as baseless, urged the national assembly to override the president and pass the bill into law for the interest of the country’s democracy.

He said, “I think this is the time Nigerians should rise up and prevail on the national assembly to override the president’s veto on the bill. The reason for not signing the bill into law as given by the president is weak”.

Another public affairs analyst, Andy Akpotivi expressed doubt on free, fair and credible election in 2019 if the bill is not signed into law.

Akpotivi said the existing Electoral Act is faulty and should be replaced so as to curtail election malpractice in 2019.

He added that “I’m not sure there could be free, fair and credible elections in 2019 if that bill is not assented to because it is that bill that contains what could avert election rigging and not the existing one”

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