One issue that has refused to leave the nation’s political discourse is President  Muhammadu Buhari’s veto of the electoral bill.

THE president through his Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang on September 3, 2018, announced  the President’s decision to decline assent to Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2018. This came barely six months after the President rejected the First Amendment. This also made it the fourth time President Buhari  declined his  assent to the bill.

ENANG disclosed that the President declined assent to the bill due to some drafting issues that remained unaddressed following the prior revisions to the bill.

AMONG the inconsistencies are cross- referencing errors in the proposed amendment to Section 18 of the bill. The appropriate amendment is to substitute the existing sub – section ( 2 ) with the proposed subsection (1 A) , while the proposed sub -section ( 1 B) is the new sub – section ( 2 A).

 THERE is also an issue with the conduct of primaries by political parties and the dates parties should submit names of their candidates to INEC .

THE proposed amendment to include a new Section 87 (14) which stipulates a specific period within which political party primaries are required to be held has  unintended consequence of leaving INEC with only nine days to collate and compile lists of candidates as well as manage the primaries of 91 political parties for  various elections.

THE Electoral Amendment bill does not amend sections 31, 34 and 85, which stipulate times for the submission of lists of candidates , publication of lists of candidates and notice of convention , congresses for nominating candidates for elections .”

SECTION 87 ( 14 ) of the  proposed amendment  “states that the dates for the primaries shall not be earlier than 120 days and not later than 90 days before the date of elections to the offices ” which is at variance with Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2010 .

REACTIONS have expectedly trailed president Buhari’s action. The main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has urged the National Assembly to override the President by vetoing the Electoral Act 2010 ( Amendment ) Bill .

IT said, “The clerical and drafting arguments put forward by President Buhari could not in any way outweigh the importance of amendments meant to engender free, fair, credible and transparent elections in 2019.

ALSO a constitutional lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, had written the National Assembly, criticizing President Buhari’s claim for refusing to grant his assent to the bill as baseless. According to him, “2018 amendment is intended to give INEC a legal basis to use Smart Cards and Electronic Technology.” He faulted Buhari’s claim that INEC will not be familiar with the bill if assented to.

CHIEF Wole Olanipekun, SAN, also argued that the President’s refusal to assent to the amended Electoral Act may jeopardise the entire process. “I will advise that for the stability of our democratic and electoral process that the Electoral Act be signed and whatever might be the differences between the presidency or the executive and the legislature, the differences must be resolved.”

THE Presidency has rejected allegations that President Buhari is against e-voting, the use of card readers in the upcoming elections, hence his decision to decline assent, for the third time, to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2018.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the president, Garba Shehu stated that the issue of e-voting and use of card readers was never an issue for the President’s decision to decline assent to the bill.

HE said that the adoption of e-voting reforms is enshrined in the 2015 Amendment Act to the Electoral Reform Act. Card reader is therefore a settled matter, adding that  the President’s recent decision to decline assent to the bill has no effect whatsoever on INEC’s use of card readers.

ACCORDING to him, since the constitution does  not empower a President or governor to whom a bill was forwarded by the legislature to edit, correct, amend or in any manner alter the provisions of such bill to reflect appropriate intent before assenting to same, Buhari had no choice but to return it to the National Assembly.

THE Electoral Act (Amendment) bill had incorporated the card reader for the purpose of giving legal backup to the technology adopted in authenticating the Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, of those eligible to vote. The absence of the card reader in the Electoral Act became an issue when the Supreme Court dismissed contentions against the election of some governors on the basis that the card readers deployed were not used.

 AMONG the many implications of this action is that there is certainly something ominous that both the legislature and the executive are seemingly not on the same page on this issue of electoral bill.

 PERHAPS, many of the errors detected by the president could have been averted  if the relationship between the executive and the legislature had been cordial .

THE National Assembly which spent many months  perusing  the bill must accept responsibility  for the delay  which  has  generated  mutual suspicion  between  the presidency  and  National Assembly.

IT is our belief  that the timing of the bill  might have justified its  non-signing by the President to avoid  any chaos  from  next year’s election which is  barely two months away.

 THE present efforts  by the presidency  and some forces in the National Assembly  to politicise the bill is un patriotic. We  call on the gladiators  to sheath their swords in the interest of the  country. The Independent National Electoral Commission has a demonstrable competence in  previous elections and  parties should have  confidence  that it would  based on its  verifiable record  conduct another  free and fair election come February 14, 2019.