Ortom hails Buhari for declining assent to electoral bill

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, on Tuesday, hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for declining assent to the amended Electoral Bill.

Daily Trust reports that the National Assembly had recently passed the amended Electoral Act and transmitted to the President for assent.

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But the president had declined assent to the bill, citing the issue of direct primaries and electronic transmission of election results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as reason.

Ortom, while speaking to newsmen in Makurdi, noted that there was need for the National Assembly to reconsider the clause for direct primaries.

He stressed that the electronic transmission of result will deepen democracy and add value to the electoral system.

He said, “I have been privileged to be a member of various political parties and I know that primaries should be the responsibility of the political parties. Consensus is even better because it solves the problem of acrimony and unnecessary expenditures.

“This also gives opportunity to smaller political parties to participate in the process.

“Just as the Presidency has done this with the Electoral Act, I call on him to do same on the economy and insecurity of the nation. He should listen to views of Nigerians and come out with an architecture in revamping the economy and security of the country.”