FG considers refusal of Buhari’s Electoral Act amendment by Senate

• Yiaga Africa warns rejection would stir litigations
The Federal Government, yesterday, said it was yet to take an official position on the Senate’s rejection of President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for expunging Section 84 (12) from the Electoral Act 2022, but indicated willingness to exploit all legal options.

Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, dropped the hint yesterday while fielding questions from newsmen at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja.

He said the government had three options open to it, including seeking reconsideration, approaching the court or accepting the law as it were.

The AGF acknowledged that while it was the responsibility of the lawmakers to legislate, the Federal Government, however, would not hesitate to intervene when necessary.

IN a similar vein, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, has warned of imminent legal tussle over the rejection.

The contentious section provides that political office holders must resign before the conduct of primaries.

Itodo, who gave the warning in Abuja at a workshop for journalists on the emerging challenges and improvements of the electoral law organised by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), listed other controversial parts of the legislation to include Sections 150, 29, 60, 64, 84, 88 and 96.

He said: “There will be attempts to go to the court to challenge the section that deals with the resignation of political appointees, and the President has highlighted this and sent a request to the National Assembly to amend that particular section.

The Senate has rejected it. If you look at Section 150 of the Act, one of the things the National Assembly has done is to make provisions to the effect that local government elections conducted in any part of Nigeria shall be bound by provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act in relation to the procedure which can also be challenged by states.”

Noting that the section which gives the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the discretion to determine the procedure for voting and the transmission of result would strengthen operations and independence of the umpire, the Yiaga chief added that the country needed more than the law to promote credible elections.

Earlier, KAS Resident Representative, Dr. Vladimir Kreck, stating that the new law contains a number of checks and balances, especially electronic transmission of results, maintained that the innovation would better the entire electoral process.