The Senate is set for a stormy session at Tuesday plenary over President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to withhold assent to the fourth version of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, passed by the National Assembly.
BusinessDay can authoritatively report that President Buhari’s letter will be read on the floors of the two legislative chambers at Tuesday plenary.
Already, members of the National Assembly are polarised across political, ethnic and religious lines.
While Pro-Buhari lawmakers are mainly from the North and members of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Pro-Saraki lawmakers are majorly from the South and belong to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was also gathered that the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, is at the forefront of Pro-Buhari legislators while the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Dino Melaye, leads the Pro-Saraki group.It was also gathered that lawmakers from both camps are divided on
whether to invoke Section 58 (5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
According to the provision, “Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be
required”.
This implies that 73 senators in the upper legislative chamber and 240 lawmakers in the House of Representatives are needed to override the president’s veto.
While the Pro-Saraki senators want the legislative body to override the President’s veto, their Pro-Buhari counterparts have vowed to block any move to veto Buhari’s refusal to sign the bill into law.
The Senate currently consists of 48 PDP senators, two African Democratic Congress (ADC) members, one member each from All
Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) while the remaining 56 lawmakers belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It would be recalled that President Buhari had on December 7 declined assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill for the fourth time.
In separate letters addressed to Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, the President explained that signing the amendment bill close to the 2019 elections could “create some uncertainty about the legislation to govern the process.
“Any real or apparent change to the rules this close to the elections may provide an opportunity for disruption and confusion in respect of which law governs the electoral process”.
He, therefore, asked the National Assembly to specifically state in the proposal that the amended Electoral Act would come into effect after the 2019 General Elections.
Speaking on the development, Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha, said PDP senators would override the President’s veto if they have the required number.
However, an APC senator, Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos State), said he would not support any plan in the Senate to override the president’s veto, stressing that such move was counter-productive.
While emphasising that the parliament would not get the required constitutional two-third to override the president’s veto, the APC senator cautioned that it would only amount to waste of “precious legislative time and overheating the polity in place of other
important legislative agenda.”
In a statement at the weekend by his Media Adviser, Kayode Odunaro, Adeola argued that anti-Buhari senators did not have the interest of the country at heart as they were not bothered about the successes of the 2019 General Elections.
