TheCable

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has asked the national assembly to veto the electoral act amendment bill if President Muhammadu Buhari refuses to sign it.

It has been about a month since the president received the legislation. Buhari is reportedly under pressure not to sign the bill.

The legislation provides for electronic transmission of election results and the compulsory use of direct primary to pick candidates by all political parties.

In a statement, Adegboruwa said the failure of the president to sign the bill before travelling for a summit in Turkey is “truncating the reforms encapsulated in that historic bill”.

“The president did not assent before he traveled to Turkey, thus truncating the reforms encapsulated in that historic bill,” the lawyer said.

“There are many innovative provisions in the bill that make it attractive as a tool to oil our democratic experiment, especially the issues of electronic transmission of election results and direct primaries for the political parties.

“From the events monitored on the floor of the national assembly and indeed the public hearings conducted, it is clear that Nigerians prefer that results of elections be transmitted electronically by INEC in order to avoid the recurring decimal of manipulation and rigging.

“In the same vein, direct primaries for the choice of candidates of political parties will eliminate the hydra-headed issues of godfatherism and the imposition of candidates.

“Under and by virtue of section 58 (5) of the 1999 constitution, where the president withholds his assent and a bill is again passed by each house by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the president shall not be required.

“I urge the national assembly, in the national interest, to invoke its constitutional powers to pass the electoral bill and save our democracy from imminent collapse.

“As the elected representatives of the people, our legislators should act in the interest of their respective constituencies.”