The house of representatives
members in the All Progressives Congress (APC) have defended President
Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to withhold assent to the electoral act amendment
bill.
The federal lawmakers also vowed
to stop any attempt by the lower legislative chamber to override Buhari’s veto
on the bill.
Buhari had rejected the reform
bill for the fourth time, citing disruption to the 2019 elections as his
reason.
In a letter sent to the national
assembly, Buhari said he is “concerned that passing a new electoral bill this
far into the electoral process for the 2019 general election which commenced
under the 2015 Electoral Act, could create some uncertainty about the
applicable legislation to govern the process”.
The president’s decision has
generated controversy at the national assembly, with some of the lawmakers
hinting at a possibility of overriding the president’s veto and going ahead to
pass the bill.
But addressing journalists at the
national assembly on Wednesday, Femi Gbajabiamila, chairman of the APC
representatives caucus, said Buhari was right to have withheld his assent to
the bill.
“A punctuation can change the
meaning of a provision of the law. The national assembly should perfect the
document, send it back; the president will sign it,” he said.
“And it makes no sense to
override in the case of an important document. We don’t have to use a fire
brigade approach; it is too close to the elections, and that is the reason for
the ECOWAS protocol. It is too late in the game to begin to tinker with the
rules.
“If they are able to muster
two-thirds and push it forward, there is nothing we can do. But as a party, we
are not going to be part of it. And we have more than the numbers to stop
that.”
Part of the issues in contention
regarding the bill is the mandatory use of card readers, which Gbajabiamila
said will disenfranchise many Nigerians.
“We have seen instances where the
card readers have failed,” he said. “What Mr. President has done is to protect
everybody in Nigeria. Millions could be disenfranchised and we don’t want
that.”
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All these so called Reps that has one cockroach or the other in their cupboard, they are afraid of what will befall them when they are defeated therefore, they using every means to see that they retain Buhari, but Nigerians are sorry, Buhari is not the candidate Nigeria want for now because Nigerians have learnt their lesson once and for all
ReplyDeleteAnd who do you want for now. President that cannot visit USA? Sorry sir/ma.
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