Senate Spokesman: It’s in Nigeria’s Interest for Buhari to Sign Electoral Bill

•Says lawmakers will not respond to president’s appointees

Emmanuel Addeh

Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, yesterday maintained that it’s in the interest of the country for President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sign the much-talked-about electoral bill into law.

Speaking on ARISE Television, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, the senate spokesman explained that the lawmakers were awaiting the direct response from the president, rather than listening to comments made by his aides.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had hinted that the president may withhold assent from the bill if it is considered to have proposals based on personal interests.

Buhari had withheld assent to the first version of the bill last year after consulting Malami and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), among others, on the bill.

Although time is fast running out before the 2023 polls, the president has not made any direct comment since the bill was reworked and forwarded to him for his assent in the latest instance.

Also, the President’s Senior Special Assistant, National Assembly Matters (Senate), Babajide Omoworare, had said that consultations were ongoing by the president before assenting to the bill.

But the senate spokesman stated that, as it is, the lawmakers have done their jobs as they should, explaining that the senate needs to hear directly from the president before taking any further action.

“For now, we are, to use the legal term, presently functus officio. As far as the electoral bill is concerned, we have done what we thought should be done and we have transmitted it to the president.

“It is now left for the president to decide. I wouldn’t know, I’m not privy to what’s happening in the presidency. So I wouldn’t know whether he quietly ignored or loudly ignored, but what I know is that we have to wait whether he will either express assent or withhold assent.

“So, I think it is only when we hear from him that we will do anything. And of course, when I heard a statement credited to the chief law officer, and I was asked for a response , my response was that I cannot join issues with an appointee of the president, until we receive direct communication from the president,” he stated.

According to Basiru, it will be in the interest of the nation for the president to sign the bill so that the country can conduct credible polls in the next set of elections.

While calling on the president not to allow either personal interest or those of his aides becloud the benefits of the bill to Nigerians, Basiru noted that the document when assented to would streamline the country’s electoral processes.

He added: “But I want to say that it will serve the nation well if Mr. President assents to the electoral bill today. We cannot allow personal interests of political appointees or individuals, even if elected, to stand in the way of fair, credible election in Nigeria.

“There’s a correlation between good governance and genuine democratic practices that will assert the pressure on political actors to act in the well-being of the people if they are sure that in a fair , credible election, they will be rejected by the people.

“So, we ask the president to allow the electoral act, which is an innovation, particularly in the area of electronic identification, also in the transmission of election results, and also ensuring that we streamline the class of election petitions.

“Beyond the issue that ought to be a matter of internal affairs of political parties, because as far as I am concerned, issues of the emergence of candidates should not be a subject matter in the electoral act. But since it has been introduced, we thought that there’s the need to streamline it and ensuring credibility,” he pointed out.

The senate spokesman posited that ordinarily, the issues of primaries should be left to the parties to decide, explaining that the qualifications for contesting any political position is a constitutional matter.

“And as to the issue being raised about the resignation of political appointees, for me, it is also a constitutional matter.

“Whether that provision can stand in view of the constitutional requirement of qualification is also a matter for the judiciary, not even for the legislative houses. My own understanding of the law is that qualification for an office is stipulated by the constitution.

“So, if a person is otherwise qualified, by the position of the constitution, can an electoral act disqualify such a person? I believe that it is in the interest of the genuine, credible, democratic majority of Nigerians that the president should sign the electoral bill into law,” he argued.