December 07, (THEWILL) – The Presidency has explained that President Muhammadu Buhari is currently consulting widely on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and will do what is best for the country.
The National Assembly had on November 19 transmitted the bill to President Buhari for assent in pursuance of Section 58 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and the Acts Authentication Act 2004.
However, the President is yet to sign the bill into law, four weeks after the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and approved the electronic transmission of results.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, monitored by THEWILL, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said his principal is currently consulting with all stakeholders, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before making his position known on the issue.
While noting that his principal cannot be preempted, Adesina noted that the President would decide on the pending bill at the appropriate time.
“The President is consulting, he has to consult with all the stakeholders and then arrive at a position that is best for the country.
“Part of that consultation was the communication with INEC and there are other stakeholders that have also been reached for positions and counsel on that. At the end of the day, Mr. President would aggregate all of it and what is best for the country is what he will do.
“It is a work in progress. The President still has a number of days within which he should sign the bill into law. Be rest assured that the President would do whatever is good for the country at any given time. So it is work in progress and there’s still a window of days”, he said
Asked on the communication between the President and INEC, Adesina said, “You would rather get the feedback from the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, but what I can tell Nigerians is that the President is consulting widely and he would do what is best for the country. We can’t preempt him, he will do it at the appropriate time.”
Adesina explained that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami is being carried along by the President as far as the bill is concerned.
When asked if the President would sign the bill or reject the document, Adesina did not reply in the affirmative or negative. Rather, he stated that his principal, who is there to ensure that processes are enhanced in the country, believes that the new law would boost the nation’s electoral process, hence would look at the bill very critically.
He said, “The President is there to make sure that things go well in the country and to ensure that processes are enhanced and the new law would enhance our electoral process in different ways.
“So the President would look at that critically and would do the best for the country.
“Those mounting pressure on the president before are the same people. It could be because maybe they had some sinister motives in the previous law which could have served their purpose and that one was not signed for legitimate reasons.
“And one of the reasons the previous one was not signed was because of the short time within the election and there was a minimum time in which it should be brought. But this one was brought in good times.
“All I am saying is that as long as it would serve our democracy well, serve our electoral processes well and serve Nigeria well, the President would do what is needed.
“In terms of casting his image on democratic values, that image is already made. Under President Buhari, one election after the other has been better.
“The ruling party has lost several elections, he didn’t do anything about it. It used to be that whoever was in power won all the elections either by hook or crook but not under President Buhari.
“So whether the electoral act is signed or not, it wouldn’t detract him from that reputation.”
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