Lawmakers under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have stated that President Muhammadu Buhari has no excuse not to sign the Electoral Amendment Bill into law.
This stance was disclosed on Tuesday in Abuja by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) who disclosed that the initial disapproval by the President had been worked on to include the three modes: consensus, direct and indirect systems within the electoral process.
“The President in rejecting the earlier one transmitted to him in November last year said indirect and consensus mode of primary elections should be added to the new one requested by President Buhari.
“Now that we have bent backward, no excuse or reason should be given again. Provisions of the bill are very critical for expected credibility of the 2023 general elections,” Abaribe noted.
In corroboration, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, stated that the ploy to scuttle the Bill has been foiled after the National Assembly reamended the scope.
He, therefore, appealed to President Buhari to sign the Bill in order to protect the sanctity of the electoral process in the country.
“The plan of using mandatory direct primaries to scuttle the bill has failed because the National Assembly has widened the scope as requested by the President.
“No other unresolved issue or observation is left in the bill transmitted to the President on Monday this week. No more excuses, no more delay, it should be signed in the interest of credibility and sanctity of electoral process in the country,” Elumelu said.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that President Buhari rejected the initial Bill transmitted to him on November 19, 2021, before it was reamended by the NASS who passed it on January 25, 2022.
