A coalition of Civil Society Organizations says it has uncovered a plot designed by the newly inaugurated Senate 14-man Conference Committee to plunge the Electoral Bill into another mine of perpetual delay and force an unconstitutional document on voters.
The group’s representatives explain in Abuja that the unconstitutional draft will compel President Muhammadu Buhari, not to assent to it for the 2023 general election.
The coalition said, elements behind the shameful plan, who had earlier infiltrated the senate to ensure the insertion of a clause that is in clear violation of the 1999 Constitution, will also be the desperate politicians, to use the backdoor to prevail on the Attorney General of the Federation, to impress on the President not to sign the bill, as it contravenes the constitution.
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The group is urging the National Assembly to allow constitutionality and national interest to prevail in the harmonisation of the bill in the spirit of the constitution and demand that the National Assembly concludes the process that will build the confidence of the electorates and strengthen our democracy.
It further noted that Nigerians are eager to have the Electoral Bill harmonised, transmitted, and signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, before the Anambra governorship election on November 6, 2021, as the President had openly and frankly expressed his readiness to sign the bill, to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to put it into action.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)