THE confusion in the polity was palpable, yesterday, over President Muhammadu Buhari’s reported refusal to assent the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
President Buhari reportedly wrote leaders of the two chambers of the National Assembly after refusing to sign the bill into law because of the huge cost of conducting direct primaries among other reasons.
Spokesmen of the Senate and House of Representatives denied knowledge of President Buhari’s rejection letter, yesterday, as a host of federal legislators contacted on the matter kept mum.
President Buhari has up till December 19 to sign the bill into law. If he refuses assent, the lawmakers with two-thirds majority can veto the president and pass the bill into law.
Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said it would issue a detailed reaction after reading the report but said it stands with the president on the issue just as the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said it would not react to speculations.
Efforts to get the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, to speak on the development did not bear fruits but Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, aligned with the president, saying the bill would have truncated Nigeria’s democracy and led to lots of litigation, if signed into law.
SENATE NOT AWARE — SPOKESPERSON
When contacted, Senate spokesperson, Senator Ajibola Basiru, said: “I am not aware of such. The Senate President has not discussed anything with me on the matter.”
WE STAND WITH PRESIDENT — APC
Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, of the APC, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, said the party would issue a detailed statement after reading the report.
He said: “I don’t know the details of the report. I need to know why the President is refusing assent. I can’t give you wrong information. We will read the report and give detailed reaction as a party. Even without reading the report, I can assure you that the party stands with the President.”
WE WON'T REACT TO SPECULATIONS — PDP
On its part, the PDP said it won’t react to President Buhari’s reported refusal to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill due to the cost of funding direct primaries until the Presidency issues a formal statement on the issue
Some presidential aides said they had not been briefed of the development last night.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, told reporters: “PDP will not be drawn to issues that are in the realm of speculation. The President has not said he would not sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. As a result, the PDP will not say a word on this matter.”
The amendment bill, which provides for the electronic transmission of election results as well as direct primaries for the selection of candidates by political parties was passed by the National Assembly a few weeks ago and is now waiting presidential assent.
NO COMMUNICATION ON REJECTION FROM BUHARI — KALU, REPS' SPOKESMAN
Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, said, yesterday, that the report in some sections of the media that President Buhari had rejected and sent back the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill to the National Assembly was false.
At best, Kalu said the report was the creation of some people “trying to increase their lobbying skills to weaken the heart of so many people that believe in the advocacy” of direct primaries.
A national daily, yesterday, reported the rejection by the President, saying the bill had been returned to the parliament for a possible rework.
Briefing journalists on the issue, Kalu said there was no communication from President Buhari to suggest that the bill had been rejected and returned to the National Assembly.
He said: “I have been confronted by this issue left, right and centre since that publication came out till now but I want to tell you that if President Buhari sent a communications to the House of Representatives, the spokesperson of the House should be one of the first to know. And I can tell you with every audacity that there’s no communication from Mr. President to that effect.
“Any insinuation is a figment of imagination of those who are trying to increase their lobbying skills to weaken the heart of so many people that believe in this advocacy, to begin to look the other way, thinking Mr. President has turned the other way.
“In lobbying, so many tools are involved. Not too long ago it was reported that the cost of running direct primaries is so much. We agree democracy is expensive but the question you should ask yourself is why was that thrown up beyond other issues? It was a lobbying skill.
“If you are a disciple of democracy, like I am and so many other parliamentarians, you will believe that democracy in itself is not cheap, if it was cheap you wouldn’t be having three arms of government.
‘’So, do we drop democracy because it’s not cheap? The answer is no because of the reward that comes with it. So we can’t sacrifice the beauty of democracy on the altar of cost. It might be costly but for democracy, it’s not expensive.”
Kalu also told journalists that the House had tentatively slated December 14 to pass the N16.3 trillion 2022 Appropriation Bill into law, adding that the Finance Bill was being given serious consideration.
“Let’s be hopeful, most of the committees have sent in their reports about what they have done so far with the various ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.
‘’The Appropriation Committee is busy going through the reports to make sure the envelope for every MDAs is in order with what has been provided for them. The committee is working overtime to ensure this is done between now and the 14th.
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