President Muhammadu Buhari has vetoed the amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 as passed by the National Assembly. The amendment among other things re-ordered the sequence of election as proposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The President conveyed his rejection of the Bill in a letter to the two chambers of the National Assembly.The letter to the Senate which was read at plenary yesterday reads: “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision, on 3rd March 2018, to decline Presidential Assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly.

“Some of my reasons include the following:“The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act, may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution;

“The amendment to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates, unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process;

“The amendment to Section 152 Subsection 325 of the Principal Act may raise Constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections.

It had long been anticipated that the President may withhold his assent to the Electoral Act Amendment. This is the second veto of Bills by the National Assembly in two weeks. The President had earlier refused to sign the Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill.

In a swift reaction, the Senate through its spokesperson Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi said that the letter will, like other communications from the president, pass through laid down legislative processes.

When asked on the development by journalists, the Senator said: “Yes the letter has been read and definitely this is not the first time letters coming from Mr. President would be read. It’s just the same normal communication from Mr. President and all communication from Mr. President will definitely go through the same legislative processes, which means we have received it now, it’s for us to look at it.

“So, what we have here clearly is a letter coming back to us, it has been read, it’s going to be approved tomorrow in the votes and proceedings and when it is approved, subsequently if there is going to be any action we’ll tell you what the actions are going to be.”

Meanwhile the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has also reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to put assent to the National Assembly’s amendment of the Electoral Act.

The Director, INEC Voters Education and Publicity, Oluwole Uzzi, when contacted said, “We would work with the existing arrangement. The status quo remains.”