NBA: Buhari’s Withholding of Assent to Electoral Act Not in Good Faith

*Says direct primary ‘supposedly unworkable’

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), yesterday, said despite the reasons given by President Muhammadu Buhari for withholding assent from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, his decision was ultimately not in good faith.

The NBA, which joined the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in faulting Buhari for refusing to accent the amended Electoral Bill transmitted to him by the National Assembly, therefore called on the National Assembly to “act right and timeously” by overriding him or effect necessary changes for reconsideration by the president.

NBA, in a statement by its National President, Mr Olumide Akpata noted that the president’s action was not “unsurprising” and described it as “unfortunate”, however admitted that the contentious direct primary was supposedly unworkable.

The statement read in part: “For the following reasons, we join other civil society groups and well-meaning Nigerians in expressing our discontent with the manner of the exercise of the President’s veto.

“The NBA acknowledges that in withholding assent to the Bill, the President merely exercised a prerogative constitutionally available to him within the broader context of the rule of law, which the NBA stands for.
“Nevertheless, we are not convinced that, in the circumstance, the President demonstrated good faith in the exercise of his veto powers.”

The body contended that, considering the significance of the bill, the executive ought to have been more directly involved in the legislative process while the bill passed through the various legislative stages at both houses of the National Assembly.

It explained that the decision to sit back and watch the National Assembly pass the bill with the supposedly unworkable direct primaries provision did not do justice to the President’s mandate.
“Secondly, we cannot find any justification for the President to have waited until the final moment before communicating his refusal to assent to the Bill.

“We note that the Constitution donates a 30-day period to the President within which to assent or withhold assent to a bill. However, the fact that time is of the essence should have dictated that the President treat the bill with a reasonable measure of urgency especially, in the case where the President ultimately withheld his assent.

“Waiting until after expiration of the 30 days, and even taking advantage of an additional day under the Interpretation Act while the entire nation, waited with bated breath, only to communicate a veto, is not consistent with the conduct of a partner in the quest for the needed reform of the country’s electoral process, which should ordinarily be a cardinal point of the President’s agenda, and more fittingly, legacy,” the statement states..

Akpata further claimed that in view of Buhari’s personal experiences with the inadequacies of the country’s electoral process, and having repeatedly pledged to strengthen the electoral process, not just in Nigeria, but also across the West African sub-region, the NBA expected more from the President.

The NBA President maintained that the body could not see how the above actions contributed to strengthening the electoral process, adding that in the circumstance, “the credibility of the 9th National Assembly is on the line.

“And the ball is now firmly in their proverbial court to rise to the occasion, and either take the historic decision to override the president’s veto or immediately take the necessary legislative steps to effect any necessary changes and return the Bill to the President for reconsideration.

“Otherwise, the National Assembly risks lending credence to the rumours in some corners that the provisions relating to direct primaries were inserted into the Bill to provide a leeway for the eventual rejection of the Bill. With less than 14 months before the next general election, the NBA calls on the National Assembly to act right and timeously before it is too late,” he added.