Electoral Act: APC, PDP Reps set for stormy session today
Lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives, yesterday, vowed to block any move to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto of the Electoral Act (Amendment) bill.
On the other hand, PDP lawmakers will today decide whether or not to go ahead with the process of overriding President Buhari’s veto a member of the caucus told Daily Trust.
Briefing newsmen at the National Assembly in Abuja, the APC caucus leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, insisted that the “APC lawmakers have more than the two-third number to stop any veto.”
According to him, President Buhari declined his assent to the bill because of its imperfection and inherent potentialities to disenfranchise millions of eligible Nigerian voters.
He said the bill’s insistence on the exclusive use of card readers for accreditation had “foreclosed all forms of manual accreditation should the electronic method fail.”
“Let me say very quickly that many people don’t understand the implication of signing an imperfect document. What the National Assembly should do is to perfect the document and send it back, then the President (Buhari) will sign it,” he said.
The House Leader said no law mandated the president to disclose his reasons for rejecting a bill, adding that by vetoing the bill, the president had sought to protect Nigerians.
“The constitution is very clear; it does not require the president to give a reason for veto. All he has to do is to say ‘I am not signing’. However, what the president has done is to protect all Nigerians. He wants all votes to count in 2019.
“We have seen instances where the card readers have failed. What Mr President has done is to protect everybody in Nigeria. That means, you can do your electronic accreditation, but also give room for the manual alternative where card reader fails,” Gbajabiamila submitted.
The House required the votes of at least two-thirds of its 360 members to override the president’s veto.