The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Buhari’s veto

  • Electoral Bill: PLOT to override Buhari’s veto thickens

    SENATORS and members of the House of Representatives have begun consultations with a view to overriding President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

    Although many members of the two chambers are said to be preoccupied with selling their candidacy in their respective constituencies as the 2019 elections draw near, making it unlikely for the lawmakers to garner two-thirds majority vote against the President’s veto, the two chambers have nonetheless began to discreetly sensitise members on the special significance of the issue.

    A highly placed Senate source told one of our reporters that “so many variables are being considered in deciding whether to proceed with the process of overriding the President veto of the Bill.” The source added: “If we want to override the President, it is not going to be a media thing, so that it will not be scuttled even before we start. “It is a legislation that will become law, so we just have to be careful.

    You don’t just pander to the wish and caprices of the people. “But there is actually growing fear that the country is likely going back to the old days of massive rigging, which will not be in the interest of the country. “The two chambers of the National Assembly have gone back to the drawing board to reconsider the implications of the President’s decision to decline assent to the Bill. “You saw the scene that played out at the Senate on Thursday when the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan, took his time to explain the numerical strength of the two dominant parties in the chamber. “Some members saw it as a sign of apprehension and the fear of the unknown. “You would also notice that majority of All Progressives Congress (APC) members have been unusually attending sittings since the President vetoed the Bill. It is not for nothing. “One thing I can tell you is that anything is possible. Nothing, I mean nothing should be ruled out.

    Read also: Electoral Bill: APC, PDP in verbal war

    “If this is allowed to stand, other unpleasant consequences will surely follow.” Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe was categorical in declaring that he would support any move in the chamber to override the President’s veto. The Abia South senator dismissed the President’s reason for declining assent to the bill as untenable. For him, “the question is whether the National Assembly will do what is right by overriding the President’s veto. “You can count on my vote any day it comes to the floor of the Senate,” he said Asked whether moves were alraedy being made to override the President, Abaribe said he would not known because he is not a member of the leadership.

    He noted that the amendments were made to prevent man made changes to election results, saying with the Electoral Bill, for instance, “when you transmit election results from the polling station, you can no longer change the result.” He also believes that signing the amendment into law would further improve the country’s electoral process. In the House of Representatives where many PDP members have not hidden their plans to override the President’s veto, APC members feel convinced that getting the two-thirds vote against the President’s decision  is not realizable.

    A leading member of the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives, Hon. Teejay Yusuf, confirmed that there were efforts to rally members for votes. He said: “We will try to get the numbers required. I see no reason why the President will act in a manner that I think is somewhat un-presidential. “Right from the beginning, from the way he has acted, he did not want the Electoral Act to be passed.

    This is the fourth rejection of the bill from him.” Another PDP member of the House, Hon. Boma Goodhead (PDP, Rivers State) spoke in a similar vein. “Of course, the best way for us to move our democracy forward is for us to override it,” he said. “It is not just about PDP; we are talking about the National Assembly and the national interest. So it is our responsibility to override that.”

    For Hon. Segun Odebunmi (APC, Oyo State), the position of the law must be allowed to prevail after the parties in dispute must have tested their strengths. Odebunmi said: “Well, the two positions are obviously the position of the law. The President has the right and the House also has the right if they could get the majority and the numbers required. “Both the executive and legislature should be working together. Whatever the grievance or issues may be, they should sit down and resolve It. But if we are working with ego, honestly, this country will not move forward.” The House of Representatives Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who spoke with reporters during the week, believes that the plan to override the President’s veto cannot succeed.

  • 2019: Buhari’s veto sparks battle of strength in Senate

    Anxiety among APC, PDP members over President’s rejection of Electoral Bill

    WHICH political party has the highest number of members in the upper chamber of the National Assembly?

    This became an issue yesterday between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The argument to determine the party with the majority members, it was learnt, was fueled by a surreptitious move to override President Muhammadu Buhari over his decision not to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2018 into Law ahead of the 2019 election.

    But the Presidency and the APC are reaching out to the party’s caucuses in the National Assembly to block the purported plot to veto the President.

    A source confided in our reporter that “it cannot be completely ruled out that some members may be mobilising to initiate the override process.”

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan disagreed yesterday over the numerical strength of the two dominant political parties.

    Ekweremadu is of the PDP. Lawan is of the APC.

    The Majority Leader was emphatic that the APC has majority members in the Red Chamber, with 56 senators as against  PDP’s 46.

    But Ekweremadu, who presided at yesterday’s plenary, promptly countered Lawan’s claim, saying there was no established statistics to prove that the APC has the majority in the chamber.

    The disagreement followed Lawan’s Point of Order to protest media reports, which the Yobe North Senator described as misleading.

    Lawan, who stressed the need to set the record straight, faulted the reports about the subsisting numerical strength of the two dominant political parties in the chamber.

    The Senate Leader pointedly dismissed reports that the confirmation of the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo, as a board member of Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), did not follow the due process.

    Lawan said: “The media reported that APC has 57 senators while PDP has 58. For the record, APC senators are 56 while PDP senators are 46.

    “Again, the media reported that majority of senators voted against the confirmation of Keyamo yesterday (Wednesday), but that you (Ekweremadu) ruled that the ‘ayes’ had it.

    “I want to put it on record that when you put the first question, it was not clear whether the ‘ayes’ or ‘nays’ had it.

    “But by the time you put the second question, it was clear that the ‘ayes’ had it.”

    Read also: Insecurity: Kwara APC shelves campaign

    ‎Ekweremadu, who appeared uncomfortable with Lawan’s submission, said: “The issue of how we vote is determined by voice vote, and it is based on the decision of the presiding officer.

    “If anybody has issues with the ruling, we can call for division. But since nobody called for any division, it meant that senators were in tandem with the ruling. So, it won’t be proper for newspapers to report what is not correct.

    “As regards the party configuration, I want to say there is no particular statistics for now. We cannot talk about the figures that each political party has because there is no such statistics. So, let it be on record that we have no such record now.”

    The Nation learnt that what played out in the chamber between Ekweremadu and Lawan was “a game of wits to prepare the minds of senators for what may come in the days ahead, especially with the President’s refusal to sign the Electoral Act amendment.”

    On Wednesday, Keyamo’s confirmation almost ran into a hitch over his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.

    Ekweremadu, who also presided on Wednesday, was forced to repeat the voice vote before Kayemo was confirmed.

    In a memo addressed to the leadership of the National Assembly last Friday, President Buhari returned the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.

    He said he did not sign in the best national interest.

    The President’s letter was read in both chambers on Tuesday by Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

    Both leaders did not state the next line of action on the letter.

     

  • National Assembly dumps plan to override Buhari’s veto

    SENATE and House of Representatives yesterday made a U-turn on  their plan to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto  of the order of Elections Bill.

    Buhari refused to assent to the bill.

    Attempts to pull through a new bill sponsored by Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senator Suleiman Nazif, failed on the floor of the Senate.

    The bill was entitled: “A Bill for an Act to amend the provisions of the Electoral Act No. 6, 2010 to further improve the electoral process  and for related matters, 2018.”

    The Bill was withdrawn following a proposal by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to that effect.

    The Senate and the House of Representatives had in their passage of the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2018 in February this year,  proposed a new sequence of elections, which placed the National Assembly election first, followed by State Houses of Assembly/ Governorship elections and Presidential election last.

    Buhari vetoed the bill last month on three different grounds.

    Senator Nazif, in his lead debate, noted that the new reordered sequence of elections would start with Governorship/State Houses of Assembly elections, followed by the National Assembly election and Presidential election last.

    Majority of the senators in their contributions opposed the bill.

    Ekweremadu apparently saw that the bill was on its way for defeat and rescued.

    He proposed that the bill be reverted to the committee for more legislative inputs.

    Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North), who was the first to oppose the bill, noted he is totally and comprehensively against the proposed legislation..

    Lawan insisted that the right thing to do was not to legislate for new sequence of elections but to support INEC in the conduct of the elections.

    Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central) also kicked against the bill.

    Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio was even more categorical in his opposition of the bill.

    Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olushola Adeyeye ( Osun Central) also kicked against the bill.

    Adeyeye described the bill as unconstitutional and called the action of the Senate as legislative rascality.

    Senators Dino Melaye ( Kogi West) and Mao Ohuambuwa ( Abia North)  made spirited attempts to get the bill passed for second reading.

    Ekweremadu said: “President has made observations in respect of some aspects of that bill, he did not say that the bill we passed was entirely useless. In other to safe those noble provisions in the Electoral Act, it is important that we remove all those areas that the President had objected to and pass the remaining items as a separate bill and send it back to him, Then we can now deal with the issues where he has issues as a separate bill altogether and then we either defeat it or have it succeed.

    “If it succeeds, we send it to the President, he decides what to do, if he brings it back, we also decide what to do. We need to clean up that bill so that we will be able to safe all those provisions that were already made in the Electoral Bill.”

    Ekweremadu’s proposal was unanimously adopted.

    Also yesterday in House, the lead sponsor, Dukku was not on the floor and the Chairman Rules and Business, Emmanuel Orker-Jev (APC, Benue) requested the leave of the House to step down the bill, which was on electronic voting.

    This did not, however, go down well with a pocket of lawmakers who were heard shouting no, no no.

    The next bill for an Act to amend the provisions of the Electoral Act, No. 6, 2010 to make provision for sequence of elections in Nigeria; and for related matters sponsored by Edward Pwajok (APC, Plateau) and seven others also suffered the same fate.

    Though the lead sponsor, Pwajok, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria  (SAN), was on the floor, he nonetheless asked that the bill be stepped down.

    Before he could conclude his speech, shouts of no, no no broke out, which forced the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun to calm his colleagues down, saying the lead sponsor has every right to step down the bill.

    No sooner had the Lasun ruled on the bill that the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, in a point of order on privileges, disclaimed being a co-sponsor of the bill, having been listed on the order paper as one of the eight sponsors.

    His point of order was sustained.

    Having been stepped down, the bills can, however, be presented again for debate on another legislative day.

  • Polls: Senate begins move to override Buhari’s veto

    •Panel to probe allegation of bribery

    THE Senate yesterday began the process of overriding President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto to the amendment of the Electoral Act, 2018.

    The upper chamber reintroduced the “Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2018”.

    The Bill, tagged: SB 645, and sponsored by Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission, Senator Suleiman Nazif, scaled first reading seamlessly.

    It was on a day the Senate mandated its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate alleged attempts to compromise senators and House of Representatives members to abandon plans to override the President’s veto.

    A number of senators in support of the Bill insisted that it was wrong for Buhari to withhold assent to the proposed legislation.

    Others opposed to the Bill saw it as targeted at the President and vowed to scuttle it.

    Insiders said the lawmakers will pass the Bill once again as it was done before the President withheld his assent.

    The most contentious section of the Bill is the reordering of election sequence, which placed the presidential election last in the order of election in the country.

    The reintroduction of the Bill is coming at a time allegations of bribery to scuttle the override of the veto were making the rounds.

    President Buhari withheld assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2018, on the excuse that his assent would infringe on the constitutional powers of INEC.

    The President, in a letter to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said giving assent to the Bill would make the National Assembly appear as if it was legislating for the states on local government-related issues.

    It was not known how far the Senate can go in its determination to override the President’s veto to the Bill.

    The resolution to investigate the allegation followed a point of order by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi on the issue.

    Nwaoboshi (Delta North) told his colleagues that the media was awash on Monday about alleged move to bribe senators and House members to scuttle the plan to override the President’s veto on the Electoral Act.

    It was alleged that $50,000 had been earmarked for senators and members of the House of Representatives are expected to get $30,000 each to stop the override plot.

    The upper chamber asked the committee to report back its finding within two weeks for a decisive action to be taken.

    Nwaoboshi told his colleagues that the media report infringes on his right as a senator since he did not receive any money from anybody.

    He prayed the Senate to get to the root of the matter with a view to unearthing the faces behind the bribery allegation.

    Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, who supported the motion, noted that he has been inundated with phone calls from his constituents over the allegation.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki agreed that the allegations should be investigated.

    Saraki described the allegation as a big dent on the image of the National Assembly.

    Nwaoboshi was asked to lay a copy of one of the publications.