By midnight of Sunday, December 19, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari’s chances of signing into law the Electoral Bill 21 would have elapsed. That is if by then he has not signed it. Between then and now, Friday December 17, is barely two days to go. That day would mark the statutory 30 days that the President has to sign the bill forwarded to him by the National Assembly.
Will the President sign the Bill? Will he not sign it? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind, in the words of a popular musician.
If the President fails to sign the bill at the expiration of the 30 days, that may not necessarily be the end of the matter. It all depends on the position of the National Assembly. If they support the president’s refusal, that is a different thing. But should they not be in support, then the two chambers of the National Assembly – the Senate and the House of Representatives can jointly take action and get the bill signed, if they can muster two-thirds majority votes each.
Nigerians of goodwill have come to put their faith in this piece of legislation as a serious effort to salvage the nation from its political instability. They hinge this position on the key provisions of the document, some of which are expected to tackle electoral malpractices, including the imposition of candidates by political parties, and, more importantly, election rigging.
After the Senate initially passed this earlier in July this year with the House of Representatives, the Senate later made some amendments to the bill.
In Clause 43 it inserted “Electronic Voting Machine” in subsections (1) and (3).
In Clause 52, it made an amendment to subsection (2) through the substitution of a new subsection saying: “Subject to Section 63 of this Bill, voting at an election and transmission of results under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission.” The commission here refers to the National Electoral Commission.
It subsequently deleted subsection (3) of Clause 52.
In Clause 63, the Senate effected an amendment to subsection (5) with the deletion of the word “transmit” and its replacement “transfer.”
Perhaps the amendments made to Clause 87 are the masterstroke that is troubling those opposed to the bill. The Senate amended subsection (1), substituting it with an entirely new subsection as follows: “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Bill shall hold direct primaries “for aspirants to all elective positions, which shall be monitored by the Commission.”
It inserted subsection (3) as follows: “The procedure for the nomination of candidates by political parties for the various elective positions by direct primaries shall ensure that all aspirants are given equal opportunities of being voted for by members of the party and “given opportunity to have agents for the purpose of monitoring the primaries.”
The Senate also inserted another new subsection (4) as follows: “The procedure adopted for direct primaries shall be spelt out in a guideline to be issued by the political party and filed with the Commission at least 14 days before the primary election.”
A new subsection (5) it inserted says that: “A political party shall maintain a register of its members and provide in the guideline for the conduct of the primaries that the register of its members shall be used for accreditation for the primaries.”
Finally, there is the new subsection (6) that provides that: “The Commission shall deploy personnel to monitor the primaries in all the centres where the direct primaries are held.”
As many people believe, these changes have the potential of ensuring credible elections in Nigeria.
Whether the Bill will be signed by the President as transmitted to him or will be rejected entire or with amendments, will be known within the next two days. Also, whether the National Assembly will recall the bill and approve it, should the president fail to sign it, is also another thing.
Which of these will happen? We shall know soon.