BEVERLY HILLS, July 03, (THEWILL) – The National Assembly has sent the new amendment to the electoral act to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
THEWILL recalls that the President, On March 13 refused to give assent to the amendment to the act which was initially sent to him by the legislators.
The bill had a section which reordered the sequence of polls ahead of the 2019 elections.
The president later explained that amending section 25 of the electoral act would infringe on the “constitutionally guaranteed discretion” of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise, undertake and supervise elections.
Abdulrazak Namdas, Spokesman of the house of representatives, later told journalists that a fresh bill different from the electoral act would be introduced to change the sequence of election but the idea has been dropped.
However, the legislators, on Tuesday, sent a new amendment act but the controversial aspects of the bill had been removed.
Instead, the new bill sent to the President now has new subsection which provides that when smart card reader fails to accredit voters, the election in that unit would be cancelled and rescheduled within 24 hours, among others.
