…’Override Buhari’s veto or delete areas of complaints’ – PDP tells lawmakers
A coalition of leading Civil Society Organisations, (CSOs), working for the perfection of the electoral system in Nigeria have urged the legislature and President Muhammadu Buhari to conclude the process of the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill by January, 31.
The CSOs, who made their appeal yesterday in Abuja, during a news conference, also said that any further delay on the conclusion of the Electoral Act amendment process was inimical to the preparations for Ekiti and Osun States off-cycle governorship elections, the 2023 general election and future elections in Nigeria.
The CSOs comprised: Yiaga Africa, International Press Centre, (IPC), Centre for Citizens with Disability, (CCD), The Albino Foundation, CLEEN Foundation, Institute for Media and Society, (IMS) and Nigerian Women Trust Fund, (NWTF).
Others are Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, (PTCIJ), Partners for Electoral Reform, (PER), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, (WARD-C), Nigeria Network of Non-Governmental Organizations and Inclusive Friends Association, (IFA).
They said that the opportunity to test the operations and viability of the new legislation and functionality of the new innovations therein would be lost if the amendment process was not concluded expeditiously.
The CSOs also asked the Senate and House of Representatives to, upon resumption today, Tuesday, take legislative action at its first sitting, in order to conclude the process and re-transmit the Bill to President Buhari by Friday, January, 21.
Itodo said that further delay in the conclusion of the electoral amendment process would be dangerous, adding, “Today, with only 398 days to the 2023 general election, it is crucial for the National Assembly and President to conclude the electoral amendment process by 31 January 2022.
“A new legal framework is central to the integrity of 2023 general elections and future elections and the advancement of Nigeria’s democracy”, he stated.
They also asked the National Assembly to remove the contentious clause of direct primaries.
Similarly, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP)’s Governors’ Forum has urged the National Assembly to override the veto of President Muhammadu Buhari on the Electoral Act amendment Bill, in order to ensure its quick passage into law.
The Forum, in a 9-point communique issued in Government House, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the end of its first meeting in 2022, also regretted that the APC-led Federal Government destroyed the over a $550 billion economy handed it by the PDP in 2015 under President Goodluck Jonathan, saying it was unacceptable.
Reading the communique, the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said the Act, if passed into law, would guarantee credible elections in 2023, adding that early completion of the amendment process would save the nation’s electoral system.
The Forum’s chairman called on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency conclude its actions on the amendment of the electoral act by either overriding President Buhari’s veto or deleting the aspect under contention to allow quick passage.
