Reps To Re-Transmit Electoral Act Bill, To Override President Buhari On 10 Others

The House of Representatives says it will re-gazette and re-transmit the declined Electoral Act Amendment Bill for Presidential assent.

The spokesman of the House, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas, made this known on Wednesday at a press briefing in Abuja.

Namdas said that the House would not override the president’s veto on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

Namdas said that the lower chamber of the National Assembly had agreed with President Muhammadu Buhari on two of the three clauses, which led to withholding of his assent to the bill.

He explained that the House would make the bill go through a full circle of lawmaking, and be re-transmitted to the president for assent.

“We, as a parliament, have looked at the reasons given by the president on why he withheld his assent to the electoral bill.

“However, we agree with the president on the first and second clauses; but we disagree with the third clause where he claimed we have no powers to amend the Electoral Act.

“That is why we will look at the bill again, correct those errors the President pointed out and send the bill back to him.

“If he still withholds his assent, then we will know what next to do,” he said.

Namdas said it was not true that the National Assembly did not have the constitutional power to reorder elections.

He also disclosed that the House was in the process of overriding President Muhammadu Buhari on 10 other bills.

He said that the Electoral Bill was not part of the 10 bills, adding that the bill include the Peace Corps Bill, among others.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Buhari had on Tuesday, through a letter to the National Assembly, declined assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

The President had cited provisions of Sections 58(4) and 15 (A) of the 1999 Constitution as capable of causing constitutional crises with the proposed bill, if assented to.