Signing of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill has been postponed till Friday.
Gatekeepers News reports that President Muhammadu Buhari will now sign the re-worked Electoral Act Amendment Bill on Friday, February 25, 2022.
A source close to the Presidency, who had earlier indicated that the President would assent to the bill on Wednesday, confirmed the new date to Channels Television.
The source noted that the new date will be honoured by the President.
Meanwhile, President Buhari is currently presiding over the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House in Abuja.
Gatekeepers News earlier reported that lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives chambers of the National Assembly passed the harmonised version of the bill on January 25.
A week later, Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on NASS Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare confirmed that the President has received the harmonised version.
The President had withheld his assent to the bill in November 2021, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges, and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political players as part of the reasons for his decision.
He gave some conditions to give his assent, this prompted the lawmakers to re-work the bill, which led to the emergence of two versions in the upper and lower chambers.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives re-amended the bill to include the direct and indirect primary options while the Senate re-adjusted it to include the direct, indirect, and consensus modes of selecting political parties’ candidates.
The lawmakers later passed the harmonised version – the final agreed version of the amendment to Clause 84 which included the direct, indirect, and consensus primary modes.
A Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, while reacting to the outcry from critics who raised concerns about the delayed signing over fears that the President might reject the bill again, said his principal’s action was within the requirements of the law.
Adesina stated that it would only be appropriate to say President Buhari has acted against the law if he exceeds the 30-day window provided by the Constitution to take a decision on the bill.
He added, “It could be signed today; it could be signed tomorrow. In a matter of hours, not days. Hours could be 24 hours, it could be 48 hours; not days, not weeks.”
