President Muhammadu Buhari has
declined assent to the bill to establish Peace Corps which was transmitted to
him last year.
According to Vanguard, Buhari has
refused to append his signature to the NPC Establishment Bill, which was
officially sent to him by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Omolori, in
the last week of December 2017.
The 30-day window under, which
the president should sign a bill duly transmitted to him elapsed on January 31,
2018.
The President now leaves the
National Assembly with the only option of mobilising two thirds of its members
to veto the president’s rejection of the bill.
A top Presidency official told
the newspaper last night that the President could not have assented to the NPC
bill because there was no need for such an outfit under the Nigerian security
architecture.
The newspaper quoted the source
as saying that by implication, the bill has been rejected by Mr. President
since he did not sign it into law within the stipulated 30 working days.
Reacting to the development, the
Spokesman for the House of Representatives, Abdulrazaq Namdas, told the
newspaper that the members would wait patiently for President Muhammadu Buhari
to write the NASS on why he would not append his signature to the bill before
deciding on next step.
Namdas said lawmakers were aware
that the president was in the habit of giving reasons whenever he rejects a
bill sent to him by the NASS.
He added, “But if we wait up to a
certain time and the usual excuses we expect of him does not come, then the
House may take a further action to override the president.
“If you remember just last week,
he returned three bills stating the reasons he refused to sign them into law.”
The NPC has been having a running
battle with the Nigeria Police since it came out as a security outfit but not
yet licensed by the Federal Government.
Also reacting to the President’s
refusal to sign the bill, the chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public
Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, APC, Niger North, said that the Senate will do
what the Constitution specifies in case Mr. President refused to assent to the
Peace Corps Bill.
He said that the constitution of
the country provided for what should be done if a bill passed by the National
Assembly, transmuted to the President for assent did not receive the assent of
the President.
He said, “For me personally, I
see it as a very good thing; it is not new to Nigeria but it is happening in
many other countries so that was why in the first instance, the National
Assembly supported it.”
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