Bauchi State Governor and presidential aspirant on the
platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bala Mohammed, has
backed the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amended Electoral
Act Bill 2022, saying the development is a good omen for many presidential
aspirants.
In reaction to the controversies trailing the Electoral
Amendment Bill, he said, “the lesser the merrier”.
He also faulted the delays, saying the process of amending
the Electoral Act did not start on time and assenting to it now might go
against the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) guidelines for
elections.
Mohammed spoke Wednesday while fielding questions from State
House Correspondents after leading a delegation on a thank-you visit to
President Buhari for inaugurating a N23.5 billion World Bank Assisted Upgraded
Bauchi Township Water Supply Scheme.
Asked what was his reaction to the President not signing the
amended Electoral Bill, the former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister
said: “Well, I’m a realist. I believe that the Electoral Act is a product of
the legislative process and that has been done and it was not done earlier and
then we have a timeline and guideline of INEC, so we’ll have to manage it.
“I think the less the merrier as somebody who is in the
race. Well, I have less delegates to go and woo. It is better for me than all
these 4,000, 5,000 delegates. Anyway, that is my take.”
Recall that while the electoral umpire is firming up
preparations for the 2023 general elections, some political parties had mounted
pressure on President Buhari to assent to the amendment to Section 84 (8),
which provides that delegates to vote at the indirect primaries and national
convention of political parties to elect candidates for elections shall be
those democratically elected for that purpose only.
It, therefore, implies that statutory delegates, such as
elected political office holders, political appointees, and executive officers
of political parties would not be eligible to vote at primaries to nominate
candidates for the 2023 general election.
The new Section 84 has in effect reduced the number of
delegates for parties’ indirect primaries and cut down the financial commitment
of aspirants toward delegates.
On Saturday, there were unconfirmed reports that Buhari had
signed the amended act into law, but sources at the presidency debunked the
information as false.
Till the time of filing this report, Buhari was yet to
assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill.
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