President Buhari has given reasons for refusing to assent to
the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2018 recently passed by the National
Assembly for the third time. Last week, President Buhari rejected the
amended electoral bill.
In a letter sent to the senate which was read during plenary today
December 11th, President Buhari said he rejected the amendment because
any amendment could cause an uncertainty into the electoral process for
the 2019 election. Read what he said below
“Pursuant to Section 58 (4) of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate, my
decision on 6th December 2018 to decline Presidential Assent to the
Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2018 recently passed by the National
Assembly.“I am declining assent to the Bill principally because I am concerned
that passing a new electoral bill this far into the electoral process
for the 2019 general elections, which commenced under the 2015 Electoral
Act, could create some uncertainty about the applicable legislation to
govern the process.
“Any real or apparent change to the rules this close to the election
may provide an opportunity for disruption and confusion in respect of
which law governs the electoral process.“This leads me to believe that it is in the best interest of the
country and our democracy for the National Assembly to specifically
state in the Bill that the Electoral Act will come into effect and be
applicable to elections commencing after the 2019 General Elections. It
is also important for the following drafting amendments to be made to
the Bill:”A. Section 5 of the Bill, amending section 18 of the Principal Act
should indicate the subsection to which the substitution of the figure
’30” for the figure “60” is to be effected.”“B. Section 11 of the Bill, amending Section 36 should indicate the subsection in which the provision is to be introduced.
“C. Section 24 of the Bill which amends Section 85(1) should be
redrafted in full as the introduction of the “electing” to the sentence
may be interpreted to mean that the political parties may give 21 days’
notice of the .. intention to merge, as opposed to the 90 days provided
in Section 84(2) of the Electoral Act which provides the provision for
merger of political parties.”“D. The definition of the term “Ward Collection Officer” should be
revised to reflect a more descriptive definition than the capitalized
and undefined term “Registration Area Collation Officer” he said