President Muhammadu Buhari has offered three reasons why he decided to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill recently proposed by the National Assembly. The President in separate letters to the House of Representatives and the Senate on Monday and read on the floors of both chambers on Tuesday alluded to infringement on the constitutional powers of INEC as well as the limitation the amendment would placed on candidates seeking elective positions.
The reasons read;
“The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act, may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution;
The amendment to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates, unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process;
The amendment to Section 152 Subsection 325 of the Principal Act may raise Constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections.”
Meanwhile, the Senate is reportedly considering available options including overriding the President's veto.
