…NASS lacks will to veto President’s refusal —Wike
….Buhari serving interest of cabal, not Nigerians —CTA
By Uthman Salami, Seth Akande and Joel Oladele
Nigerians for the past couple of days have been left in the state of suspense as President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to give assent or communicate about his rejection to the National Assembly about the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Despite the 30 days passed time frame assigned to the signing of the bill forwarded by the National Assembly to the presidency since November 19, 2021.
Yet, the President has neither assented the bill, nor communicate his reason for withholding assent.
Stakeholders had urged the President to sign the bill in the collective interest of the country, especially, in view of his promise to leave a legacy of free, fair and credible electoral system for the country which he promised.
Many have also charged the National Assembly to consider to invoke its Constitutional powers to veto the President’s refusal.
NASS lacks will to veto President’s refusal – Wike
However, Rivers State, Gov. Nyesom Wike has said the National Assembly lacks the will to veto President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the Electoral Act amendment bill, saying it is part of a supposed All Progressives Congress (APC) ‘conspiracy’ to deny Nigerians free, fair and transparent election in 2023.
He said the only way for Nigerians not to repeat the 2015 and 2019 mistakes of voting the APC-led Federal Government into power is to send them packing in 2023.
Governor Wike made the assertions at the flag-off of Chokocho-Igbodo Road that was performed by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State in Etche Local Government Area.
He recalled how most people did not believe him when he (Wike) raised the concerns that President Buhari would not sign the Electoral Act amendment bill into law to give legal impetus to electronic transmission of election results.
“Three weeks ago, I told Nigerians that there is a conspiracy not to have a free, fair, transparent election in 2023 and that conspiracy was very clear. And I told Nigerians, Mr President will not sign the Electoral Act amendment bill.”
Governor Wike stated that having known the modus operandi, style and strategy of the APC, it was obvious to him and all discerning minds that the clause on direct primaries was inserted into the Electoral Act amendment bill as a ploy for the president to refuse assent to the bill.
According to him, the APC members were afraid that if results are transmitted electronically, they would not survive the 2023 general elections.
“What APC resolved in the meeting they had was that their problem is not necessarily direct primaries, but the electronic transmission of result in 2023. If they allow that, obviously APC will lose the election in 2023 and they told themselves that the only way we can survive that is to include the direct primaries in the bill so that Mr President can use that as an excuse, that he will not sign the bill.”
He accused APC Governors and their National Assembly members of deceiving Nigerians that they were engaged in a battle of supremacy over the issue of direct primaries, whereas they had secretly agreed to scuttle the possibility of transmitting election results electronically in 2023.
He said the National Assembly does not have what it takes to veto the president’s refusal to assent to the bill.
According to him, the lawmakers were not interested in protecting the interest of Nigerians and ensure that elections are free and fair with the electronic transmission of election results.
“Unfortunately, you don’t have a National Assembly that has what it takes, that will stand for the people, that will say, look, we were elected by the people and we want to give the people the best. Nobody in the National Assembly, not even the leadership can have what it takes to say Mr President for the interest of Nigerians we are going to veto this your refusal.”
The Governor maintained that because APC does not consider the interest of Nigerians as a priority, its leaders were immersed in crisis jostling for benefits that fan their personal egos.
Governor Wike said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is different because it is waxing stronger as a true political party, and working every day in improving the socio-economic conditions of the people in PDP-controlled states. Buhari serving interest of cabal, not Nigerians – CTA.
A non-profit organization known as the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has described the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Bill as unpatriotic to the nation he sworn an oath to protect its interest.
In a statement recently signed by the group Executive Director, Faith Nwadishi, the group expressed concern over “The President seems to be interested more in mundane personal aggrandizement that will benefit a few cabals instead of improving our elections and the integrity of the electoral process across the entire electoral value chain.”
Nwadishi said signing the Bill would have been the best birthday gift President Buhari could offer Nigerians as it would go a long way in enhancing transparent electoral process and also deepen our democracy.
“Nigerians had hoped that President Buhari would have given us the Electoral Act as amended as a birthday gift. This hope was dashed disappointingly.
“The 2021 Electoral Bill which seeks to repeal the 2010 Electoral Act as amended was supposed to be a means to improve the electoral process in Nigeria.
“Recall that in 2018, president Buhari failed to assent to the bill as amended then with the excuse that the time was too close to the 2019 General Election. The delay until this time confirmed the fears that the provisions envisaged by the citizens and expectations thereof may be dashed by the actions of the president.
“Laws are made in the interest and benefit of the people and not for those in power.
“The reasoning by the president concerning the provisions on party primaries should not be held unto to truncate the wishes of Nigerians. It may be correct that political parties have the prerogative to determine how their candidates emerge whether by direct or indirect primaries but not enough reason not to sign the bill into law by the President.
“President Buhari had enough time to return the bill to the National Assembly to restore such powers to the political parties as soon as he received the bill and asked for expeditious amendment if he wished, but he failed to do so.
“President Buhari and the members of the National Assembly are accountable to Nigerians and therefore, the aspirations and wishes of Nigerians must subsume any parochial or selfish interest.” Said the group executive director.
Nwadishi further appealed to President Buhari and the National Assembly not to be seen as sabotaging the efforts of the Election Management Board and Nigerians by making or encouraging laws that are retrogressive, unproductive, negative and retards the growth of Democracy.
“The Centre for Transparency Advocacy is by this release in full support of the calls by other CSOs for the National Assembly in the spirit of patriotism to veto the president and pass the bill into law as a way forward to conducting a free, fair, and credible elections that will stand the tastes of time.
CTA equally, calls on citizens, patriots, the civil society, students, religious and traditional leaders to prevail on the National Assembly to do the wishes of the people as we look forward to 2023 General Elections.
While reacting to the uncertainty of the decision on electoral bill in an interview with Nigeria NewsDirect, Barrister Onyekachi Ubani, said the President had the 30 days which was require to make decision by giving assent or refusing the bill.
According to him, “Nobody knows whether he has assented or refused its clearly uncertainty as it is not healthy for our democracy.”
“The President creates uncertainty and unnecessary controversies. What I have found out of this, is that the president may not believe in free fair and credible elections. He doesn’t want credibility in our electoral process so that is why they are keeping everyone in suspense.”
He also made note that this same bill had been made mentioned of before the 2019 general elections where the president replied that the time frame was too short for the bill to be given attention to because of the 2019 elections.
“He declined assent to such amendment before in 2019 general elections. The reason he gave was that it was too late to sign it.
“According to him the timeline was too short. Now, it is the issue of direct primaries they are using as the basis for not signing despite all other innovative provisions that has been amended that were made. So I may want to conclude that the president may not want a credible election.”
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria,Ahmed Raji while speaking on the programme “Politics Today” on Channels Television said there are two options left since the president is yet to communicate on the electoral bill. He said either the National Assembly use the veto power given by the constitution of the country to make decisions or engage in a constructive dialogue with the president so as conclusion can be met swiftly.