Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, says the President, Muhammadu Buhari, is afraid that giving assent to the
Electoral Act Amendment Bill will make his party, the All Progressives
Congress, to fail in the 2023 general elections.
Wike made the assertion at the inauguration of lecture
halls, laboratories and offices of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences,
Bayelsa Medical University in Yenagoa on Saturday.
The governor pointed to the inclusion of the compulsory
transmission of electoral results electronically in the Electoral Act Amendment
Bill as the APC’s greatest fear.
This was contained in a statement by the Special Assistant
to the Governor on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, which was made available to journalists
in Port Harcourt.
“They are afraid that if INEC in 2023 transmits election
results electronically, that is their end, because they know they will fail,”
the statement quoted Wike as stating.
The governor wondered why the APC controlled Federal
Government was always seeking excuses to justify Buhari’s unwillingness to sign
into law what would advance the country’s electoral process.
He explained that in 2019, the President declined assent,
because the compulsory use of the card reader was included, which was seen as
capable of dimming his party’s chances of winning the elections.
Wike said the President also recently declined assent to the
Electoral Act Amendment Bill on the basis that the National Assembly included
direct primaries and that a serving minister had to resign to qualify to
contest for elections.
He stated, “Every time this government and this party find
an excuse for not signing the Electoral Act. In 2018/2019 when they inserted
the card reader in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, Mr President said no, it
is too early, he would not sign, because they knew that if they had used it
(card reader) in the 2019 election, it would have been difficult for the APC to
have won.
“Now, we are in 2022, going for 2023, the National Assembly
in its wisdom said there must be direct primaries by all the parties, Mr
President came and said no, put options. The National Assembly in its wisdom
has amended the bill and agreed to what Mr President said.
“Now again, Mr President said I’m in a dilemma, I’m
consulting. What is the consultation? There is a clause that says if a minister
or a commissioner wants to run for election, they have to resign, that is why
up till now Mr President cannot assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.”
Wike said these were trivial excuses, because in 2015, he
resigned as minister, contested and won the governorship of Rivers State,
wondering the basis for the claim that the President was consulting or that he
and his party were in a dilemma.
“After all, when I was a minister, I resigned to run for the
governorship. I resigned and I won the primaries. So, what is this hullabaloo
of not resigning and you keep Nigerians’ fate hanging? Every day, Nigerians are
thinking, what is going to be in the future, where are we heading to?” he
added.
The governor said it was regrettable that nobody was doing
good things for the citizens and the country, adding that Nigeria did not have
a National Assembly that had what it takes to do the right thing for the good
of the country.
Wike commended the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye
Diri, for his development strides as was characteristic of governors elected on
the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Rivers governor donated N500m towards the completion of
the Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences building project at the Bayelsa Medical
University, which is still at the damp proof course level.
He expressed delight at the courage of Diri in providing
such a training institution for medical personnel and noted that in the Niger
Delta, there was a need for mutual support while resisting attempts to create
division among the states.
Diri said his administration had built on the vision of his
predecessors in expanding the university and increasing the programmes of
studies to make it one of the best in the country.
In his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Bayelsa Medical
University, Yenagoa, Prof Ebitimitula Etebu, said the institution had eight
academic programmes in the Faculty of Science and Basic Medical Sciences when
it was established in 2018.
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