Sadiq Umar, senator representing Kwara north, has explained
why the upper chamber did not override President Muhammadu Buhari on the
electoral amendment bill.
According to NAN, the senator made the comment while
speaking to journalists in Ilorin on Friday.
On November 19, the electoral bill was transmitted to Buhari
for assent.
Compulsory direct primaries for political parties and
electronic transmission of election results are among the amendments proposed
by the national assembly.
But Buhari rejected the bill on the grounds of insecurity
and the cost of conducting direct primaries, adding that the recommendation
“violates the spirit of democracy”.
Despite numerous calls for the national assembly to override
the president, the lawmakers failed to do so.
Speaking on the development, Umar said the senators resolved
to consult their constituents on the matter, adding that “when we resume, we
will do what the people want us to do or what we think is best for Nigeria”.
“What happened was
that after the national assembly passed the electoral amendment act, the
president wrote back to us giving reasons why he could not assent to it.
“We believe some of the reasons, some we don’t. For the
senate, we were ready to override the president at that time.”
He said the senate could not proceed with overriding the
president because of the decision of the house of representatives to hold “more
consultations”.
“For us, we were prepared to do what we wanted to do but
given our rules and constitutional provision, even if we eventually overruled
the president in the senate, it would have been null and void, because there
has to be concurrence by the two chambers,” he said.
“So, the senators
also bought into the decision of the green chamber to consult with our people
so that when we resume, we will do what the people want us to do or what we
think is best for Nigeria.”
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