As the constitutional window closes for President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Amendment Bill Nigerians will have to turn to the National Assembly for the next line of action.
Although the president has been quiet and failed to communicate his decision on the bill to the legislature, his aides had insisted that he will do so “soon.”
It is not yet clear if Mr Buhari has communicated his decision to the lawmakers as of Monday morning.
An aide of his, Garba Shehu, had said over the weekend that his boss cannot be compelled to declare his decision ‘publicly’ to Nigerians as this would be ‘unkind’ to the lawmakers.
Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to ask the spokespersons of the Senate and House if the National Assembly has gotten a new communication from the president, were unsuccessful.
While the Senate spokesperson, Ajibola Basiru, did not respond to calls, his counterpart, Benjamin Kalu, said he was unavailable to speak on the matter
Suspense
The much anticipated bill was passed in October.
It seeks to resolve issues regarding the use of modern technologies in the electoral process and prescribe a particular mode of primary election for political parties to choose candidates seeking elective offices.
It had generated controversies during the consideration.
Some controversial clauses of the bill were 52 and 87 which deals with the use of electronic voting, transmission of results and mode of primaries respectively.
In the bill, the National Assembly allowed the use of electronic voting and transmission of results from polling units, at the discretion of the electoral umpire, INEC.
The lawmakers also approved that direct primaries be the only mode of primary election for political parties.
Bone of contention
The direct mode of primary election enshrined in the bill has been the centre of controversy.
Many believe it is the reason for which the president has withheld assent.
Direct primary election allows registered members of a party to vote for who they want to be the candidate of their party in the main elections. The indirect primary election allows delegates to decide who will be the party’s candidate.
The clause seems to have generated a rift between governors and federal lawmakers.
Many governors, majorly of the All Progressives Congress, have opposed the clause on direct primaries in the bill.
The governors describe direct primaries as an attempt to usurp the functions of political parties, although it weakens their stranglehold on political parties.
Many have said it will advance democracy in the country by decentralising the process of selecting candidates by the political parties.
To this regard, Mr Buhari had written to the electoral umpire, INEC and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, seeking their observations and recommendations on the bill.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. [PHOTO: Channels TV]
While the former advised the president to sign the bill, the latter said that restriction of parties to direct primary would cause confusion.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported the impact of direct or indirect primaries on the internal democracy of political parties.
What the law says
After it was passed, the bill was transmitted to the president for assent on November 19.
Mr Buhari, according to Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution, has a period of 30 days to either sign the bill into law or decline assent (while he communicates his reasons).
Section 58(5) of the same law also gives the National Assembly powers to override the president and pass the bill again by a two-third majority.
Sunday December 19 made it 30 days since the bill was sent to the president for assent.
There has been no communication on the bill from the president who only returned from Turkey hours ago.
There were speculations last week that the president had rejected the bill citing the controversy surrounding the mode of primary elections stipulated therein. But this report was refuted by both the presidency and the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu.
A presidential media aide, Garba Shehu, has said the president was still making consultations and would communicate his decision soon.
Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu
Mr Kalu said he had no knowledge of such correspondence.
The president’s silence comes amid calls from civic groups and the Nigerian Labour Congress for immediate assent of the legislation, especially before the stipulated time elapses.
Buhari has one more day – SAN
While calculations peg the president’s deadline at November 19, a Senior Lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, explains otherwise.
Citing Sections 2 and 3 of the Interpretation Act 2004, he said the calculation of days for which the president has to sign a bill does not start from the first day.
Mike Ozekhome
He gave this explanation while speaking on Arise TV on Sunday night.
“There shouldn’t be this fear that today is the last day that the president must assent to the bill, no.
“To calculate days in an enactment, you have to go to the Interpretation Act 2004. Under Sections 2 and 3 of the Act, when an Act is to be done, you leave out a day when the Act is to be done and start calculating from the next day.
“So in law, you will start counting from 20 November, 2021, not 19. Then under Section 15(5) of the Interpretation Act, when an event falls on a public holiday, that day is not to be counted. And this section defines a public holiday as a public holiday and also a Sunday.
“So, even if we were to count the days from 19th of November, it will still not end today because today is a Sunday. It is the next available working day, tomorrow, Monday, 20th, that the law requires that the president must assent to the bill.”
He said Nigerians still have to wait till Monday for the president to assent to the bill.
What next if Buhari declines assent?
As the president runs out of time to make known his decision on the bill, it is left for the National Assembly to give life to it.
This can be achieved by exercising their powers in Section 58 (5) of the Constitution. This way, both the Senate and the House of Representatives will agree and pass the bill again by a two-third majority.
“If he (Mr Buhari) does not sign the bill, you now go to Sections 4, 58 and 59 of the constitution. These Sections give the legislative powers of the country to the National Assembly.
“That section 4 gives the National Assembly powers to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of Nigeria.
“Under sections 58 and 59, when the president returns or vetoes a bill, these Sections empower the National Assembly to override the president. By passing the bill by two-third majority vote. It shall then become law without the assent or the signature of the president,” Mr Ozekhome explained.
Also, he said if the president is worried about the concerns raised with regards to the mode of primaries, he can simply sign the bill into law now and seek amendments to that clause afterwards – as he did with the Petroleum Industry Act.
Slim chance
However, chances of the lawmakers overriding the president are slim.
While they openly support direct primaries and want to see that it is signed into law, the Ahmad Lawan-led assembly does not seem like one to oppose the president’s decision going by antecedents.
These lawmakers, dominated by Mr Buhari’s party, the APC, have overtime, boasted of sustaining a cordial relationship with the Executive and have also strived to do the bidding of the Executive – an act which many Nigerians have likened to a rubber stamp.
Overriding the president therefore seems highly unlikely in an APC-led assembly filled with loyalists to the president, analysts say.
Also unlikely is the possibility of the National Assembly taking any action on the bill before the end of the year.
The lawmakers who were meant to embark on the Christmas break last week, had only held a session this week to consider and pass the 2022 budget on Tuesday.
Previous rejections
This is the fourth time the bill would suffer setback from the Executive.
Efforts to get the bill signed into law by the previous assembly were futile with President Buhari rejecting it three times.
He first rejection was in March 2018 where he said the proposed law would usurp the constitutional powers of INEC to decide on election matters, including fixing dates and election order.
Early in 2018, he rejected it again citing “some drafting issues” that remain unaddressed following the prior revisions to the Bill.
In December 2018, when the bill was rejected, Mr Buhari said passing a new bill with elections close by could ‘create some uncertainty about the legislation to govern the process.’
While some Nigerians were hopeful that the president would assent to the bill, others like elder statesman, Buba Galadima, have said signs that the bill will be rejected by the president ”were glaring from the start.”
Mr Galadima, a critic of the Buhari-led administration, said had the president intended to sign the bill, he would not delayed for so long.
“It should be known as a fact that he has technically declined. If he were to sign it, he should have done that before going to Turkey, which he didn’t and he will not do…So, technically it will lapse within the next 24 hours.
“Second, because I know him, I can for sure tell you, I bet my life that he will not sign any Electoral Act that will jeopardise the interest of those around him who want to circumvent the will of the people and they are up to it.
“It is exactly about one and half years to the election. The last time that this issue of the Electoral Act started with Saraki (ex-Senate president), they kept on brick-batting. If they send him the bill, he will pick one item and use it to reject everything.
“Then by the time they rectify that particular one and send it back, he would now pick another fault…In 2019 (2018), he declined to sign the bill because it was too close to election, now he is reluctant to sign it based on the issues around direct primary, which they said would gulp about N500 billion.”
With the 2023 general elections drawing close, many are hopeful that whatever action is taken on the bill, will be swift and timey enough to be implemented in the election year.
Both civic groups and international communities agree that the bill, if signed into law, will improve Nigeria’s electoral processes and impact positively on future elections.
(/Premium Times)