TheCable

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign Organisation (PPCO) has asked the national assembly to override President Muhammadu Buhari and pass the electoral act amendment bill.

Buhari had rejected the bill for the fourth time, citing disruption to the 2019 elections as his reason.

In a letter sent to the national assembly, obtained by TheCable, the president asked the lawmakers to revise some clauses.

Reacting via a statement, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the council, described the decision as a “calculated attempt to hold the nation to ransom and ultimately scuttle the conduct of the 2019 general election.”

“President Buhari’s repeated refusal to sign amendments passed to check rigging in the election, raises issues of his sincerity of purpose and has the capacity to trigger political unrest and violence, which can, in turn, truncate our hard-earned democracy,” the council said.

“The PPCO invites Nigerians to note that this is the fourth time President Buhari is withholding assent on the amendment, without any cogent reason following his rejection by Nigerians.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. President, in his desperation to hold on to power, has resorted to taking steps that are capable of destabilizing our nation, just because the people are resolute in voting him out of office democratically.

“While urging the National Assembly to save our democracy and forestall an imminent electoral crisis, the PPCO also charges all political parties, other critical stakeholders and Nigerians in general, to rise in the interest of our nation and demand the entrenching of rules and processes that will guarantee the conduct of free, fair and credible elections, as nothing short of that would be accepted.”

Among the controversies on the bill are the reordering of the sequence of the 2019 elections, placing the presidential poll last, instead of the governorship and state assemblies, and also exclusion of the use of card readers during elections.