With the 2023 general elections less than two years away, the much-awaited Electoral Reform Act is yet to be passed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. There is growing concern that with the deafening silence currently maintain by President Buhari, many stakeholders are expressing fear that the country may yet go into the next elections without the right legal framework to ensure a credible, free and fair election just like 2019 elections.
The various political parties, especially the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the main opposition party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) are in the race to attain their best forms before the elections, where the number one executive seat, the presidency is the ultimate prize. The Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021, which is currently on the table of Mr President, is currently generating a lot of controversy among all the stakeholders, including the electorate.
The refusal of Mr president to assent to the bills has created uneasiness among the people both the electorates and the politicians alike going into 2023 general elections. Asides from our usual political thuggery, the most universal is whether the Electoral Act would be ready for use.
The amendment bill was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, and transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, for his assent. It is that all-important assent that is now the source of the palpable apprehension, at least for the politically aware citizens. Many analysts believe the bill will strengthen our democratic process if assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The delay can not be unconnected with the divergent interests and debates trailing the newly introduced clauses in the bill by the National Assembly. The legislators went against their respective state governors to include direct primary for political parties to nominate their political candidates for elective positions, the move which rattled the governors and made the governors from the ruling party to begin lobbying with the presidency.
In the same move, a clause that will empower INEC to electronically transmit election results, which not many career politicians would advise but which the electorates have been clamouring for, was also introduced to the bill. This can go a long way to make election rigging more difficult if not totally eradicated. Many still have the believe that politicians will do anything to make the clause vanish from the yet to be signed Electoral Amendment Bill 2021.
Everyone, including political class and ordinary citizens are yearning for good governance, and are patiently waiting for the president assent to bill amendment, despite the fact that the process is still laden with some form of politricking. While the proponents of the bill want the expected law to serve their political interest, and are lobbying for it to be passed and working to thwart the efforts of those who oppose the amendment, there are also those in other quarters using all sorts of means, including blackmail and intimidation through the media, to achieve their aim of getting the president to decline his assent.
The entire country is waiting to see what President Buhari’s action will be, now that the National Assembly has played its role. Of course, the president is seen as one of the most mature politicians in the country, going by his ability over the years to conceal his thoughts and emotions over some critical national issues until he decides to speak on them. So, not many, not even those considered to be closest to him can say this is what Buhari will do in respect of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
And it is only right that Buhari should dance to the tone of the populace by giving his assent to the bill so as to avoid the repeat of the fate that befell 2019 amendments. By signing the bill, His (Buhari) name would be written in gold as a person who ushered in revolution in our democratic process.
