By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Senate on Tuesday passed the fourth version of the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2018 ahead of the 2019 general election.
Sundiata Post recalls that while the national assembly was on recess, the joint committee on INEC met to work on the document based on issues raised by the President.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had declined assent to the bill three times, citing some constitutional and drafting issues.
However, Tuesday’s passage of the bill by the red chamber followed the adoption of the report of the committee presented by its Chairman, Sen. Suleiman Nazif.
Nazif had said that the committee addressed all the issues raised by the president for withdrawing assent to the bill. He also informed that the amendment seeks to provide the use of Card Readers and any other similar technological devices for the election, among others.
Speaking at plenary today, the senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said having addressed all the issued raised, he hoped the president would now assent to the proposed law so as to improve our electoral process and further strengthen our governance.
According to him, “Let me congratulate all of us, particularly the Committee on Electoral Matters for the hard work they put in.
“We were able to achieve this that looked almost impossible at a time, and I want to commend everybody for making this happen.
“This will go a long way in improving our electoral process and further strengthen our governance.
“I am sure with this now, Mr. President will of course give his assent, and we can now finally have an Electoral Act that we would all be proud of,” he said.