The lawmaker representing Delta
Central at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Ovie Omo-Agege has
revealed that the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance forbids
President Muhammadu Buhari from signing the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill
According to News Agency of
Nigeria, NAN, the All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmaker gave this insight in
Abuja on Friday night.
Article 2 of the protocol forbids
member countries from making “substantial modification” to their electoral laws
less than six months to elections “except with the consent of a majority of
political actors”.
Omo-Agege, who is a staunch
supporter of the President, noted that with the elections less than three
months away, signing the bill would violate the ECOWAS instrument.
NAN reports that the presidential
and National Assembly elections are slated for Feb. 16, 2019, while those of
governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on March 2.
Omo-Agege said, “I have yet to
see the president’s letter to the Senate, but this bill means so much to Mr
President. On a good day he would want to sign it.
“However, without even seeing the
reasons he has advanced so far, I am aware of the challenges posed by the
ECOWAS protocol.
“I don’t know if that is part of
the reasons he has advanced, but with the bill coming two months or thereabout
before the election, assenting to it will breach the protocol.”
NAN reports that Buhari did not
mention the ECOWAS instrument as part of his reasons for declining assent to
the bill for the fourth time.
The president’s latest decision
came in a letter dated Dec. 6, 2018 and addressed to both chambers of the
National Assembly.
He said signing the amendment
bill with elections close by could “create some uncertainty about the
legislation to govern the process”.
“Any real or apparent change to
the rules this close to the elections may provide an opportunity for disruption
and confusion in respect of which law governs the electoral process,” he
stated.
Buhari, therefore, asked the
National Assembly to specifically state in the bill that the amended Electoral
Act would come into effect after the 2019 general elections.
Reacting to the development, Sen.
Peter Nwaoboshi, who represents Delta North on the platform of the main
opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the reasons given by the
president were “untenable”.
“It is not a good reason for him
not to sign the bill because the Senate worked with INEC (Independent National
Electoral Commission) in preparing that bill.
“If INEC felt otherwise, they
would have advised us when we were working on it.
“You are aware of the controversy
that this issue of amendment of the act has generated, with people accusing the
Senate of not wanting to amend the act.
“We amended it, but he declined
assent the first, second and third time; he made certain observations, which we
agreed with.
“We sent it again, and the reason
he is giving now is that it will disrupt the election. It is really
unfortunate,” he said.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com