TheCable

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amended electoral bill into law.

Abubakar said this shortly after he signed the peace accord for the 2019 elections.

The accord was organised by the National Peace Committee. Abubakar was absent on Tuesday when some presidential candidates, including Buhari, signed the deal.

Paul Ibe, Atiku’s spokesman, had attributed the presidential candidate’s absence to lack of invitation.

But on Wednesday, Atiku alongside some PDP leaders visited the committee’s office in Abuja and signed the deal

Shortly after this, he posed the challenge to Buhari via Twitter.

“Earlier today, I appended my signature to the Peace Accord. I also urged the President to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law,” Abubakar tweeted.

Earlier today, I appended my signature to the Peace Accord. I also urged the President to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law. #LetsGetNigeriaWorkingAgain pic.twitter.com/ZRSI4BWRGs

— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) December 12, 2018

Buhari has declined signing the electoral amendment bill four times, citing some inadequacies.

While Buhari has been severely criticised for rejecting the bill, members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the house of representatives defended him and vowed to block any attempt to override Buhari on the bill.

“A punctuation can change the meaning of a provision of the law. The national assembly should perfect the document, send it back; the president will sign it,” Femi Gbajabiamila, leader of the APC caucus in the lower legislative chamber, had said at a press conference.

“And it makes no sense to override in the case of an important document. We don’t have to use a fire brigade approach; it is too close to the elections, and that is the reason for the ECOWAS protocol. It is too late in the game to begin to tinker with the rules.

“If they are able to muster two-thirds and push it forward, there is nothing we can do. But as a party, we are not going to be part of it. And we have more than the numbers to stop that.”