Tag: NASS

“Why I declined assent to Electoral Amendment Bill” – President Buhari

Aminu Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari has written a letter to the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, explaining the reasons he withheld his assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021. The President, in the letter, said the prevailing situation in the country would not allow him to sign the Bill. President Buhari cited the high cost of conducting direct primaries, the security challenge of monitoring the election, violation of citizens’ rights and marginalisation of small political parties among other reasons for rejecting the Bill. The President also said he had received…

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Electoral Amendment Bill: As deadline for President’s assent expires NASS spoils for showdown

Aminu Imam

…President yet to communicate – Senate Spokesman…”We will override him”, Lawmakers insist As the number of days stipulated by law for President Muhammadu Buhari to assent or decline assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 expired yesterday, there is reportedly an uneasy calm between the National Assembly and the Presidency. It was gathered that lawmakers are already mobilising themselves, awaiting any official communication today, Monday, to enable them to take a decision tomorrow. Recall that the National Assembly bureaucracy submitted the clean copy of the bill to the President…

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NASS under pressure to veto Buhari on Electoral Amendment Bill

Aminu Imam

The Organisation for Community Civic Engagement, (OCCEN), a Civil Society Organisation has begun mounting pressure on the National Assembly to veto President Muhammadu Buhari if he fails to sign Electoral Amendment Bill 2021. Addressing newsmen in Kano yesterday, an OCCEN Executive Director, Abdulrazaq Alkali, lamented that the President was yet to sign the bill into law even as the deadline for the Bill to become law would elapse in two weeks. He said, “The president had been foot-dragging and unjustifiably delaying on the Bill”, adding that “the president’s gesture should…

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Electoral Act: APC governors lobby NASS caucuses over direct primary

Aminu Imam

State governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), are reaching out to the party’s caucuses in the National Assembly in their latest bid to forge a compromise with the leadership of the legislative arm on the controversial direct primary clause in the Electoral Act amendment Bill. The Bill is currently awaiting the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari who is an aid to be still consulting widely to determine whether to sign it or not. It was gathered that the Chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum,…

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Electoral Act: Centre for Liberty 5 other CSOs task Buhari on quick assent

Aminu Imam

…As APC govs lobby AGF to stop President from signing Bill Six (6) Civil Society Organisations (CSO) partners on electoral matters have applauded the National Assembly for the final passage of the harmonised Electoral Act bill and the resolution directing its Clerk for immediate transmission to the Executive for presidential assent. The CSOs stated this in a statement made available by the Executive Director, ‘Adopt A Goal for Development Initiative’, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, and endorsed by the ‘Centre for Liberty, Raising New Voices’, ‘Youth and Students Advocates for Development Initiative’ (YSAD),…

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NASS passes Electoral Act Amendment Bill, approves direct party primaries electronic transmission of results

Aminu Imam

…Electoral Act ready for Buhari’s assent in 7 days – Reps The Senate and the House of Representatives have passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and approved the electronic transmission of election results. The approval was given yesterday, when the lawmakers resumed plenary after a three-week recess. A 7-man Conference Committee had been constituted by the Upper chamber to meet with members of the House of Representatives conference C’ttee and harmonise the differences in the Senate and House versions of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. Under a new amendment of…

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Buhari requests Senate to amend PIA over ‘unbalanced geographical representation’, others

Aminu Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to amend the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021. He made the request in a letter read by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, during plenary yesterday on the floor of the upper chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja. In the letter dated September 16, President Buhari explained that his proposal became necessary having carefully reviewed the administrative structure of both the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, and the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission. He listed the three areas of the Act he…

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Ndume faults NASS ‘hasty’ approvals of loans

Aminu Imam

The Chairman, Senate Community on Army, Ali Ndume, has faulted what he described as the hasty manner with which the ninth National Assembly often approves external loan requests made by President Muhammadu Buhari. Ndume, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, also insisted the present external debt burden put at over N35trillion by the Debt Management Office (DMO) was worrisome. He lamented that the hurry to grant loan requests from the executive by the National Assembly has made Nigerians to become suspicious of their elected representatives and also nicknamed them ‘Rubber…

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Buhari seeks NASS approval to borrow extra $4bn, €710m

Aminu Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking the approval of the National Assembly to borrow a fresh $4,054,476,863 and €710 million, in an addendum to the 2018-2020 borrowing plan. The President also asked the 9th Assembly to approve grant components of $125 million. The request was in a letter read by Senate President Ahmad Lawan on the floor of the upper legislative chamber, yesterday. Recall that in July, the National Assembly approved the sums of $8.3 billion and €490 million loans contained in the initial 2018-2020 borrowing plan. However, in the letter,…

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The electronic transmission of election results; NASS coup against the people?

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

By: Abdull-Azeez Ahmed Kadir Nigeria’s electoral system reform is progressing. It has made some positive dramatic moves up the ladder of democratic tenets since 1999 when Nigeria returned to civil rule. But there are pundits who believe the progress should have been faster than what we have witnessed thus far. You may want to disagree with them. But the recent debate on the amendment of the electoral act, especially clause 52(2) of the bill that prescribes that the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC might adopt electronic voting and transmission of…

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