PDP Lawmakers Ask Buhari To Sign Amended Electoral Bill

A combination of photos of President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

The National Assembly Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Buhari to sign the amended Electoral Act Bill into law without delay.

The group made the call on Tuesday during its meeting with members of the party’s Board of Trustees at the National Assembly.

Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said having bent backward as requested by President Buhari on the earlier rejected electoral bill, the amended bill should be signed without delay.

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, however, alleged that governors from the ruling All Progressives Congress are lobbying President Buhari not to sign the bill.

He warned that the PDP will resist this plan because of the very important provisions in the bill, particularly section 52 which deals with electronic transmission of results.

This is coming 24 hours after the National Assembly transmitted the bill to the President for assent.

Last week, lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives passed a harmonised version of the bill.

President Buhari had withheld his assent to the bill in November last year, citing a lack of alternatives to direct primaries in the bill.

According to the President, direct primaries are expensive to conduct and may lead to manipulation of electoral processes.

The lawmakers have since included indirect and consensus modes for choosing party candidates.