The presidency said on Thursday that President Muhammadu Buhari is desirous to assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 but is still consulting.
Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Babajide Omoworare, said this at a dialogue on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, put together by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja.
During a session on policy dialogue which centred on ‘Electoral Bill 2021 and Quest for Presidential Assent: Matters Arising,’ Omoworare explained that Buhari waa still consulting with critical stakeholders on whether to sign the electoral act amendment bill or not.
He noted that his principal was aware of the constitutional time constraint for assent to the bill as stipulated in Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution, which gives the president a 30-day time frame to sign the document.
He said, “Consultations are going on and we are aware that despite the fact that the President needs 30 days under Section 58 within which to sign, the President is desirous of signing it, otherwise I don’t know.
“I can’t speak for him now. It is going to be as a result of the consultations whether he signs or not, but we know we have time constraints.”
Speaking, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, said a good law was necessary for electoral integrity.
While he picked holes in the bill, especially in the provisions for campaign financing by presidential candidates, Jega said:
“There is a good fundamental democratic principle. Candidates for presidency spending N5 billion and governors spending N1 billion for elections is a very bad law,” he said.
“To my mind, it is just one aspect out of the many good things that are in that bill. Whether you do direct or indirect primaries, it does not matter so long as political parties are not democratic.
“If there is no internal party democracy, whether you do direct or indirect primaries, they will still manipulate it and the outcome will still not be favourable to the people.”
Many political analysts in the country believe that the document is critical to the 2023 general elections and have made various arguments on why it is important that Buhari signs the bill in good time.
Buhari had earlier refused to sign the bill over the mode of primaries when it was first transmitted to him by the National Assembly.
Following the development, the federal lawmakers on January 31 transmitted the reworked bill to the president for assent.