Chronicles of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill since 2018

On Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill after several rejections.
The document contains amendments to the legislature that governs how elections are held in Nigeria – The Electoral Act. The Act oversees how the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts its operations and how INEC staff conduct elections for the states and the federal government.

The National Assembly had updated the Electoral Act in 2004, 2006, and 2010 in order to strengthen and improve the conduct of elections, which is the backbone of any democracy.

A history of rejections

March 2018

The bill, which is now signed first reached president Buhari’s desk four years ago. He declined to sign the electoral amendment bill on March 3, 2018, claiming that it usurped INEC’s constitutional authority to decide on election concerns, including the dates and sequence in which they would be held; legislative elections first, followed by governorship elections and finally, the presidential election.

June 2018

The bill was again reworked and passed by the National Assembly, but this time, the president didn’t consider the reworked document at all.

July 2018

Again in July 2018, Buhari refused to sign another version of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill that had been passed and transmitted to him by national lawmakers. This time, he cited the increased cost of conducting elections as one of the reasons he did not sign the Bill.

December 2018

Similarly, Buhari withheld assent to the Amendment Bill for the fourth time in December 2018, despite the fact that the National Assembly had addressed all of his previous reasons for withholding assent.

The President’s final “explanation” for not signing the electoral bill, which could have improved the election in 2019, was that there would be no time to implement the amendments before the general elections. Asides, the presidential approval sought after could degenerate into uncertainty and confusion during and after the elections.

Election 2019

Following the 2019 general elections, the 9th Assembly began a new round of amendments. On November 19, 2021, the National Assembly finally sent the Electoral Act Amendment Bill to the President for assent. This act suffered the same fate as the others, namely denial.

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December 2021

Relentless, the two chambers of the National Assembly transmitted the amended bill back to the president in what could be described as a last-minute try in November 2021. But in December of the same year, the president declined to sign once again. He had asked the National Assembly to expunge the clause bothering on direct primaries from the amendment.

Buhari finally signs

Finally, on Friday, February 25, 2022, President Buhari signed the electoral bill into law after seven years in power and more than five rejections.