A coalition of 13 civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria has called on the National Assembly to retransmit the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 to President Muhammadu Buhari by Friday, 21 January, 2022.
The coalition made the call in a statement following a citizens’ town hall forum on the bill on 16 January, 2021.
According to the CSOs that make up the coalition, further delay is inimical to the preparations for the 2022 Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, and the 2023 general election.
‘The National Assembly should ensure proper scrutiny of the bill to resolve all drafting
errors and cross-referencing gaps before retransmitting the bill for presidential assent’, the coalition comprising Yiaga Africa, International Press Centre (IPC), Centre for Citizens with Disability (CCD), and The Albino Foundation said.
Other members of the coalition included CLEEN Foundation, Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), Partners for Electoral Reform (PER), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO), and Inclusive Friends Association (IFA).
President Buhari withheld assent to the bill over concerns raised on direct primaries.
Compulsory direct primaries for political parties and electronic transmission of election results were among the amendments proposed by the federal lawmakers.
According to the president, the amendment may open up the electoral system to a plethora of litigations based on diverse grounds and issues of law.
‘The amendment as proposed is the violation of the underlying spirit of democracy, which is characterised by freedom of choices of which political party membership is a voluntary exercise of the constitutional right of freedom of association’, the Nigerian leader said in a letter to the lawmakers.
Consequently, the civil society urged the National Assembly to either override the president’s decision or remove the ‘contentious clauses’ from the bill and transmit to the president for assent within 30 days.
‘The president should upon receipt of the retransmitted bill provide his assent within a
week’, the coalition noted.
‘The civil society groups, media, and development partners [should] sustain the effort to safeguard the Electoral Bill from policy capture, manipulation, and subversion of the people’s will’.
Photo source: Paul Kagame
