The presidency on Wednesday spoke
on the “true status” of the electoral act amendment bill, maintaining that
President Muhammadu Buhari has not declined assent.
Garba Shehu, the president’s
senior special assistant on media and publicity, said Buhari does not object
the use of card readers in the 2019 elections.
He described allegation
suggesting otherwise as “wild and baseless”.
Shehu said in a statement: “Our attention
has been drawn to incorrect and misleading reporting in several newspapers
regarding the status of the electoral act (amendment) bill, 2018.
“The presidency would like to set
out the true status of the bill. The electoral act (amendment) bill, 2018, was
sent by the national assembly to the presidency at the end of June 2018, for
assent.
“Following extensive
consideration, the presidency engaged with the national assembly to raise
concerns regarding errors and inconsistencies found in the submitted version.
Following this, the national assembly, on July 24, 2018, met to review and
correct the bill.
“The bill was given on July 24,
2018, a “clause by clause consideration” by the senate. The votes and
proceedings from the senate on July 24, 2018, attest to this.
“The senate resolved to rescind
its decision on a number of clauses included in the version they had earlier
sent for consideration by the president and to reconsider these clauses.
“According to the senate votes
and proceedings of Tuesday July 24, 2018: “The Senate: … notes that in the
course of final cleaning of the Bill as passed, some provisions were found to
negate the essence of the amendment; [and] Resolves to: Rescind its decision on
Clauses 3,5,8,11(2), 13(b), 14 (4), 15(3), 18,21,23,24,28,32 and 38 of the Bill
as passed, and recommit same to Committee of the whole for reconsideration and
passage.”
The presidential aide further
explained that the re-considered bill was passed by the senate on July 24, the
same day that plenary was adjourned to September 25.
He disclosed that the revised
version of the electoral act (amendment) bill, 2018, with corrections by the
national assembly, and dated August 2, was received by the presidency on August
3 2018.
According to him, the president has
30 days from the date of receipt, to assent to or decline the bill.
“The bill is, therefore, still
under consideration by the presidency,” he added.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com