• Buhari meets N’Assembly leaders in Aso Rock
Olalekan Adetayo and Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
The Senate has been advised to ignore the reasons given by President Muhammadu Buhari for not signing the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill passed by the National Assembly.
It was learnt on Thursday that based on the advice from the Senate’s Legal Department, the upper chamber of the National Assembly would proceed with the process to override the President’s veto on the bill, which seeks to reorder the sequence of elections.
A new Section 25 in the Electoral Act states that the sequence of the elections will commence with National Assembly, to be followed by governorship and state Houses of Assembly, while presidential poll will come last.
Buhari had written to both chambers of the National Assembly on his decision to withhold assent to the amendment bill.
In the letter dated March 8, 2018, the President had said the amendments made by the lawmakers were in conflict with the existing laws.
The Senate had resolved on Tuesday when the letter was read to members to seek legal advice from the Legal Department.
A copy of the document containing the advice given to the Senate was sighted by one of our correspondents on Thursday.
The department listed what it considers to be the holes in all the three arguments raised by Buhari.
The lawyers said while the President claimed that the amendment introducing a specific sequence for elections under Section 25 of the Principal Act 2010 infringed on the discretion of INEC to “organise, undertake and supervise elections,” the section cited by Buhari had been amended.Continue reading.
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