Buhari to Sign Reworked Electoral Bill Friday

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

At last, President Muhammadu Buhari will on Friday assent to the reworked Electoral Act Amendment Bill transmitted to him last month by the National Assembly.
Reliable Presidency source Wednesday confirmed that the President was billed to assent to the bill at the State House, Abuja at about noon.
The signing ceremony is expected to be witnessed by top government officials including the leadership of the legislative arm, namely the President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila.
The top Presidency official who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that arrangements had been finalized for the President to sign the amendment bill into law Friday, finally putting all anxieties to rest.
The source, said “all these anxieties will disappear by Friday afternoon.
”He will be signing the bill around noon of that day. I believe he has taken his time so that the Act can be as unassailable as much as possible.”
Public anxiety had mounted, in the last few weeks, over President Buhari’s delay in assenting to the re-amended bill, as some members of the public as well as some critical stakeholders had concluded that he waswithholding assent again.
The National Assembly transmitted the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 to President Buhari on January 31, 2022, a second time, having reportedly revised the bill, which he withheld his assent to for some noted reasons.
While the President was yet to assent to the re-amended bill more than 20 days after it was transmitted to him, though he constitutionally has a 30-day window till March 1, 2022 within which he is mandated to either assent or state reasons for not doing so.
President Buhari had withheld his assent to the bill in November 2021, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges, and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political players as part of the reasons for his decision.
He, however, gave some conditions to give his assent, prompting the federal lawmakers to re-work the bill which initially led to the emergence of two versions from the green and red chambers of the assembly.
Thereafter, the two chambers in a conference committee harmonised their position before transmitting the reworked bill to the President last month.