Electoral act: PPCO asks N/Assembly to override Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) has urged the National Assembly to save the nation’s democracy by overriding President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law.

The Director Media and Publicity of the Campaign, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan said in a statement on Friday that legislative action has become imperative as the President’s decision was a calculated attempt “to hold the nation to ransom, inject crisis into the electoral process and ultimately scuttle the conduct of the 2019 general elections.”

Mr. Ologbondiyan said Buhari has seen that he would not retain his seat as President if the amendment was signed into law, hence his refusal to assent to the bill.

“President Buhari’s repeated refusal to sign amendments passed to check rigging in the election, raises issues of his sincerity of purpose and has the capacity to trigger political unrest and violence, which can, in turn, truncate our hard-earned democracy.

“The PPCO invites Nigerians to note that this is the fourth time President Buhari is withholding assent on the amendment, without any cogent reason following his rejection by Nigerians.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. President, in his desperation to hold on to power, has resorted to taking steps that are capable of destabilizing our nation, just because the people are resolute in voting him out of office democratically.

“It is also instructive to note that President Buhari is mortally afraid
of the amendments because they essentially checked the All ProgressivesCongress (APC) rigging plans, including the use of underage and alien voters, vote-buying, alteration of results and manipulation of voter register; for which the APC and the Buhari Presidency have been boasting of winning the 2019 elections.

“While urging the National Assembly to save our democracy and forestall an imminent electoral crisis, the PPCO also charges all political parties, other critical stakeholders and Nigerians in general, to rise in the interest of our nation and demand the entrenching of rules and processes that will guarantee the conduct of free, fair and credible elections, as nothing short of that would be accepted,” the PPCO said.