President Muhammadu Buhari
NASS transmits re-amended Electoral Bill to Buhari
National Assembly (NASS) has transmitted the re-amended Electoral Act Amendment Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
This was confirmed, Monday, by Senior Special Assistant on NASS Matters (Senate) to the President, Senator Babajide Omoworare, who also explained that the transmission of the bill was in line with the provisions of Section 58 (3) of the 1999 Constitution and the Acts Authentication Act Cap. A2 LFN 2004.
Omoworare stated that the Clerk to the NASS, Olatunde Ojo, transmitted the authenticated copies of the bill to the President on Monday.
“The Clerk to the National Assembly (NASS) Mr Olatunde Amos Ojo has transmitted the authenticated copies of the Electoral Bill 2022 to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari GCFR on 31st January 2022,” he said.
“This was done in accordance with the provisions of Section 58 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the Acts Authentication Act Cap. A2 LFN 2004.
“Mr. President had withheld assent to the Electoral Bill 2021 transmitted to him on 19th November 2021. The Electoral Bill was thereafter reworked by the National Assembly and both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed same on 25th January 2022.”
This comes a week after lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives passed the harmonised version of the bill.
President Buhari had withheld his assent to the bill in November last year; citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections; security challenges; and also possible manipulation of electoral processes by political actors as part of the reasons for his decision.
While he gave the conditions to give his assent, the lawmakers went on to rework the bill; which, equally important, initially led to the emergence of two versions from the green and red chambers of the assembly.
While the House re-amended the bill to include the direct and indirect primary options; the Senate re-adjusted to include the direct, indirect, and also consensus modes of selecting political parties’ candidates.
