By Ben Ogbemudia and Enyo Ojo, Abuja

As the controversy over the return of the amended Electoral Act Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly rages, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) scuttled the signing of the bill because some key provisions will not allow its ‘grand’ design to rig the 2023 general elections.

National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement in Abuja said the APC has been in trepidation of the amendment to the Electoral Act due mainly to the provision of electronic transmission of election results, which will eliminate APC’s manipulations and alteration of results at elections.

The party spokesperson said, “It is apparent that the APC and the Buhari presidency were never committed to the amendment of the Electoral Act to ensure credible elections and as such triggered the controversy of the mode of primaries by political parties as camouflage to scuttle the entire Amendment Bill, including provisions for electronic transmission of results, among others.

“It is imperative to remind Nigerians of how the APC, in collusion with their leaders in the National Assembly, fought hard to stop the electronic transmission of results provided in the bill, but were resisted by Nigerians supported by the courageous action of the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives, which staged a walkout only for the APC to orchestrate controversies and set the stage for the withholding of assent by Mr. President.”

He continued: “The main reason for this manipulation of the legislative process by the APC, is to prevent the electronic transmission of results so that it can continue in its culture of rigging and electoral impunities including alteration of results at collation, ballot box snatching, and destruction of data, among others, just to cling to power against the will of Nigerians.

“Such is consistent with the APC’s well-known machination against every genuine effort to instil credible, transparent, free, and fair elections in Nigeria in the last six years. The APC thrives in the electoral scam, duplicity, underhand dealings, violence, and political brigandage, all in their heinous script to put Nigerians under perpetual bondage.

“Having been rejected for its failures and having also self-decimated its structure across the country, the APC has completely lost the capacity and goodwill for electoral contests and as such seeks every means to subvert any process that can guarantee credible elections in 2023.”

The opposition party claimed that the subversion of the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by the APC further validated the claims that the APC was averse to the aspiration of Nigerians and does not believe in democratic principles of credible elections.

“Our party, therefore, calls on all Nigerians, Civil Society Organisations, the international community and all lovers of democracy across the world to rise and put appropriate pressure on the APC-led National Assembly to immediately do the needful to safeguard our democracy by ensuring that the basic principles of a transparent, credible, free and fair mode of conducting elections are guaranteed and sustained by law.

“The PDP cautions the APC to note that no matter their machination, Nigerians are determined to pursue the electronic transmission of election results to its logical conclusion and that there is no going back in their resolve to vote out the APC in 2023.”

•We’ll resolve stalemate in 2022- Senate President
Meanwhile, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, yesterday said that the Senate would consult with the House of Representatives on how to respond to President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.

Lawan made this known after the upper chamber rose from a closed session to deliberate on the President’s decision to withhold assent to the electoral bill passed by the National Assembly.

We have good leadership to steer PDP to win presidency- Wike

According to the Senate President, the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) do not permit the upper chamber to exclusively take any action on such matters in the absence of the House of Representatives, since the latter has embarked on recess.

He, however, assured that a joint position would be reached with the House after due consultation with Nigerians to determine the appropriate line of action when both chambers reconvene from the Christmas break in January.

Speaking on what transpired in the closed session, Lawan said, “The Senate in a closed session deliberated on matters relevant to the workings of the Senate in particular and, the National Assembly in general.

“The Senate also in the closed session discussed how to respond to the letter from Mr. President on the electoral bill amendment.

“The Senate consequently resolved to consult with the House of Representatives in January when both the Senate and House will be in session.

“Presently, the House of Reps has gone or recess, and like we all know, the constitutional provision is for the Senate and House of Representatives to jointly take the appropriate action.

“The Senate also resolved to consult with our constituents during our recess in January. The Senate believes that our constituents have a role to play as the major stakeholders in the laws that we make in the National Assembly.”

President Buhari in the letter dated December 13, 2021, had explained that his decision to withhold assent to the electoral bill was informed by advice from relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of Government after a thorough review.

According to the President, signing the bill into law would have serious adverse legal, financial, economic, and security consequences on the country, particularly because of Nigeria’s peculiarities.

He added that it would also impact negatively on the rights of citizens to participate in the government as constitutionally ensured

•Reps caucus vow to override President

The PDP caucus in the House has vowed to mobilise for overriding the President on the bill.
Leader of the caucus, Kingsley Chinda, in a statement yesterday alleged that Buhari declined to sign the bill into law due to the provision for electronic transmission of election results and not a restriction of political parties to direct primary as the President noted in his letter to the National Assembly.

Chinda’s statement read in part, “On the issue of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the caucus expressed concerns that in the past one month, Nigerians have waited on General Buhari to give assent to the electoral reform bill passed to him by the National Assembly.

“As was postulated in several quarters, he has declined assent to same, using the cost of direct primaries as a decoy. The untold reason for declining is to avoid the electronic transmission of results which will improve the credibility of the electoral system.

“This refusal, though contemplated, has left Nigerians confounded by a President who continues to show utter disdain for the Constitution and the reform of the institutions of the state.

“Under him, our institutions of state have regressed to the point that the gains of previous institutions reforms, embarked by our great party (PDP) while in power, have been either lost to his inaction or to his deliberate ploy to leave our country worse than he met it. On this point alone, we are not convinced that he is interested in the reform of the electoral process.

“A ruling party that cannot conduct its national convention cannot implement some of the innovative and people-empowering provisions of the bill, like the direct party primaries and electronic transmission of results from the units.

“As an opposition caucus, we will ensure that our members exercise their power under Section 58(5) of the Constitution to veto the President whenever the National Assembly deems it fit table the issue for discussion.”

•NANS threaten protest in S’ West
Also, the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) has threatened to protest in the South-West over the refusal of President Buhari to sign the amended Electoral Act Bill into law.

The Coordinator of the NANS South-West (Zone D) Emmanuel Adegboye said this at a press conference in Ibadan yesterday.

The zone’s Public Relations Officer, Opeoluwa Awoyinfa, and Chairman of NANS in Oyo State, Quadri Adeleke, were present at the briefing where the students association also frowned on the failure of the Senate to override the President’s veto.

The NANS coordinator said Nigerians’ right to elect political leaders could not be said to have been protected if the only thing they could do is to only choose between candidates that were made flag bearers of respective political parties by few men regarded as delegates.

They said Nigerians should be given the power to collectively decide the flag bearers of whatever political parties they belong