Buhari to assent to Electoral Act Amendment bill Friday

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to sign the long-awaited Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021, this Friday, reliable sources in the Presidency confirmed to Daily Trust on Wednesday.

Sources close to the office of the President said arrangements had been finalized for the President to sign the amendment bill into law around 12pm.

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The source, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said “all these anxieties will disappear by Friday afternoon. He will be signing the bill around noon of that day. I believe he has taken his time so that the Act can be as unassailable as much as possible.”

The Civil Society Organisations had organised protests over President Buhari’s delay in assenting to the re-amended bill.

The National Assembly transmitted the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 to President Buhari on January 31, a second time, having reportedly revised the bill, which he withheld his assent to for some noted reasons.

President Buhari had withheld his assent to the bill in November 2021, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges, and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political players as part of the reasons for his decision.

He, however, gave some conditions to give his assent, prompting the lawmakers to re-work the bill which initially led to the emergence of two versions from the green and red chambers of the assembly.

However, the President has yet to assent to the re-amended bill more than 20 days after it was transmitted to him, though he constitutionally has a 30-day window within which he is mandated to either assent or state reasons for not doing so.