Buhari has not rejected, returned Electoral Act Bill to NASS – Reps

The House of Representatives said contrary to media reports, President Muhammadu Buhari has neither rejected nor returned the Electoral Act Amendment Bill to National Assembly for reconsideration.

Daily Sun reported on Thursday that a certain Senator confided in it that Buhari had returned the Bill to the Senate and the House of Representatives in a letter addressed to the two principal officers of the parliamment.

According to the report, the President cited the high cost of conducting direct primaries as provided for in the proposed legislation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which hovers around N500 billion as the reason for the return.

Read Also: Direct primaries: Reps summon INEC Chairman over N500bn cost

But refuting the report, the House of Representatives Spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu on Thursday said there was no such communication from the President to the parliamment but a figment of the imagination of lobbyists who want certain contents of the Bill to be altered.

Kalu said: “I want to tell this House (you) that if Mr. President sends a communication to the House of Representatives, the Spokesperson of the House should be one of the first to know and I can tell you with every amount of audacity that there is no communication from Mr. President to that effect.

“So, any insinuation is the figment of the imagination of those who are trying to increase their lobbying skills to weaken the hearts of so many people that believe in this advocacy to begin to look the other way thinking Mr. President has turned the other way.

“The point must be made, in lobbying, so many tools are employed. Remember not too long ago, it was in the public parlance that the cause of running the direct primary was so much. We agree democracy is expensive. But the question you should ask yourself is why was that thrown up beyond other issues.”

“It was a lobbying skill. Let this nation cry that it is wasteful legislation. Let the nation see the cost ineffectiveness of it. But if you were a disciple of democracy, like I am and so many members of the parliament you will believe that democracy in itself is not cheap. If it was cheap we would not be having three arms of government,” the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, said.

On the other hand, INEC said it did not come up with any cost for the conduct of primaries per political parties by direct method as been speculated in the public domain.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu stated this after a closed-door meeting with the House Committe on the Appropriations and Electoral Matters at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.

The House had last Thursday invited the INEC Chairman to appear its Committees on Electoral Matters and Appropriation and brief lawmakers on the cost implication of conducting direct primaries by political parties in the country, estimated at N500 billion.

However, the INEC Chairman, Yakubu told journalists after the meeting that the engagement of the Commission in conduct of primaries, whether direct or indirect was made known to the Committees.

He refused to divulge the contents of the letter INEC sent to the President-elect on its position/advice on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and feigned ignorance when asked about the reported rejection of the proposed legislation by the President.

“We have had very good discussions with the Committee on Appropriation of the National Assembly pursuant to the resolution of the House and what we discussed you will not hear from me. May be, the Chairman of the committee will tell you”, Yakubu said.

On his part, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Mukhtar Batera said INEC told lawmakers that political parties have the responsibility of conducting primaries and funding of the exercise for whatever method adopted be it direct or otherwise.

“In our discussions with the INEC Chairman, we wanted to know his requirements for the 2023 elections as well as the cost of direct or indirect Primaries. On the primaries, when we discussed with him.

“He specifically told us the role of INEC in direct or indirect primaries which he said is just minimal. He said the responsibility lies with all the political parties. He said party primaries is the role of political parties and not INEC, ” the lawmaker said.