It is no longer news that president Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday 21st December 2021, returned the Electoral Act (Amendment) bill 2021 forwarded to him by the National Assembly on 19th November 2021 unsigned. The president has given his reasons for his refusal to sign the bill.
Here, it is not my intention to discuss the merits or demerits of the president’s reasons for withholding assent to amendment of the bill.
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What matters to me here is that if the National Assembly accepts the reasons of Mr. President for rejecting the bill, they should repass the bill removing the areas objected to by the president and we move on.
However if they do not accept his reasons, they can exercise their powers under section 58(5) of the constitution which clearly portrays that in their law making functions, the National Assembly is superior to president Buhari as detailed in subsection (5) of section 58 which says : –
“Where the president withholds his assent and the Bill is again passed by each House by two thirds majority, the Bill shall become law and the assent of the president shall not be required”.
So these two are not areas that for worry at all. Either they accept or reject is within the National Assembly’s powers.
What worries me really is that by rejecting the amendment bill, president Buhari has not moved us away from using the current law on electoral matters in Nigeria, which is the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended); which is a law that does not improve our democracy as the Card Reader that we have used in the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections to authentic voters is legally useless .
The Card Reader is legally useless. The computer server on which the results of election obtained from Carder Reader is equally useless as the data is no evidential value. The Supreme Court said so because Section 49 (1)(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 did not mention anything about Card Reader or any Server.
The Card Reader is only contained in the Electoral Manual 2015 made by INEC. And since INEC is not a law making body, the INEC Manual that recognises use of Card Reader in authenticating voters in any election is illegal, void. The Supreme Court said so in the case of Buhari v Obasanjo (2005) 13 NWLR (Pt. 941) 1 at pp. 316-317 paragraphs E-H where the court held that –
“the INEC Manual cannot extend what the Electoral Act did not extend or limit what the Electoral Act never limited“.The Supreme Court also said the same thing in A.G Fed: & 8 ors v. Alh. Atiku Abubakar (2007) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1041)
So the National Assembly has a date with history. They can do or fail to do. But whatever they do or fail to do would produce one of the following 4 scenarios thus –
1. the National Assembly may veto the president and give Nigeria a law that allows for indirect primary elections and transmission of results electronically from the polling unit.
2. the National Assembly may remove the clause dealing with indirect primary elections, pass a new bill without the clause for direct primary elections. If they do, the president would sign the bill since it is the only clause he objected to. And by so doing, Nigeria shall have a law that will make transmission of election results electronically from the polling unit legally possible, but without party direct primary elections.
3. the National Assembly choose not veto the president and keep quiet. By doing nothing, the status quo remains; meaning we have to use Electoral 2010 (as amended ) with all its imperfections especially about the uselessness of the Card Reader.
4. the National Assembly may delay acting on time. If they do, Nigeria shall be caught by the provision of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance as well as the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. These two protocols require that amendment to the electoral legal framework in any country that is a signatory to the protocol must be concluded at least six months to the election date. Nigeria is a signatory to the protocols.
This point is interesting because January, 2022 is 9 days away. Electoral Act 2010 as amended requires that each political party must submit the names of its candidates at least 6 months to the general election. Presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections will be held on 18 February, 2023.
In conclusion, I pray that we would not to go back to Card Reader which betrayed both Buhari and Atiku and indeed all Nigerians. Therefore in my humble opinion, the National Assembly should either –
i. override the President’s veto immediately or
ii. delete the issue of direct primary election from the bill and return the bill back to the President for assent before we are caught by the provision of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Good Governance and the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
Delay will be dangerous.
Dasin is a former member of the House of Representatives for Fufore/Song Federal Constituency.
