APC Senators To Block Veto Of Electoral Bill

Senators elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have vowed to resist any attempt to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s rejection of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2018.

There were strong indications that the Senate would begin the process to override the president’s decision to withhold assent to the bill this week.

It would be recalled that the president had, on Friday, for the fourth time, declined to give his assent to the Amendment Bill, citing the closeness to the 2019 elections as the reason for his final refusal.

The president’s latest decision came in a letter dated December 6, 2018 and addressed to both chambers of the National Assembly.

However, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, lawmaker representing Lagos East, has stated that the APC lawmakers – known as progressive senators – would stand against any plan by the National Assembly to veto President Buhari’s refusal to once again sign the recent amendments to the Electoral Act.

Ashafa made this assertion while addressing the press after a stakeholders’ meeting of the Lagos East chapter of the APC which took place in Epe, on Saturday, December 8, 2018.

Responding to questions on the next line of action for his colleagues in the Senate after the refusal of the president to assent to the Bill, Ashafa said: “I have had the opportunity of looking through the well thought out reasons adduced by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, for not assenting to the version of the Bill which has been forwarded to him, and I am quite in agreement with him.

“Both the president and the National Assembly have shown good faith in the back and forth caused principally by drafting inconsistencies that have delayed the bill till now.

“We must all understand that both sides must be dispassionately and painstakingly disposed to ensuring that there is no loophole in the final result of the proposed amendments, considering the sensitive nature of the Electoral Act and overarching effect of same on national security and stability of the polity.

“It cannot be in tandem with any standard democratic ethos to introduce new rules to the field of politics less than two months to a general election, we must be fair to all concerned.”

Commenting specifically on the possibility of a veto of the president’s decision by his colleagues, the lawmaker stated: “It is a game of numbers and to conduct a successful veto of the president’s position, the National Assembly would require a vote by two thirds of both houses. I am certain that the progressive bloc of senators who have already seen reason with the president would not be in support of such a veto.”

Ashafa also used the opportunity to express his confidence in the capacity of the electoral umpire, INEC, to conduct a hitch-free general election while stating his belief in INEC’s neutrality.

He cited the several commitments of President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the INEC chairman, Prof.  Mahmoud Yakubu, to the international community, civil society, and all stakeholders in the electoral process, as well as the recently concluded elections as basis for his belief.

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