Electoral Bill: Pressure mounts on National Assembly to override President

Pressure is being mounted on the National Assembly to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021.

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President Buhari has declined assent to the Bill, stating that signing it into law would cause trouble among the political parties in the country.

The President refused assent to it against the backdrop that the parties have their various constitutions that indicate that primaries should be conducted either directly or indirectly.

However, as of yesterday, pressure is being mounted on members of the National Assembly to override the President.

Several constitutional lawyers and various civil society organisations, including Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) and YIAGA Africa have called on the National Assembly to override the assent of the President on the bill.

Although Section 58 (5) of the 1999 Constitution provides that two-third of both legislative chambers of the National Assembly (73 senators and 240 members of House of Representatives) are required to override the President’s veto, political commentators say this would be a tall order considering the fact that both chambers are polarised along party lines.

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