– President not interested in reform, say lawmakers
The major opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the House of Representatives have vowed to veto President Muhammadu Buhari following his decision to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The opposition lawmakers accused the President of not being interested in electoral process reform.
Giving reasons for declining assent, the President said the direct primary provision has serious adverse legal, financial, economic and security consequences which cannot be accommodated at the moment considering the nation’s peculiarities.
He said the provision for the direct primary has implications on the rights of citizens to participate in the government as constitutionally ensured.
Besides, he said the conduct of direct primaries across the 8,809 wards across the country will lead to a significant spike in the cost of conducting primary elections by parties and will lead to corruption.
ut, in a statement on Wednesday by PDP caucus leader Kingsley Chinda, the opposition lawmakers said: “As was postulated in several quarters, he has declined assent to same, using the cost of direct primaries as a decoy.
“The untold reason for declining is to avoid the electronic transmission of results which will improve the credibility of the electoral system.
“This refusal, though contemplated, has left Nigerians confounded by a President who continues to show utter disdain for the Constitution and the reform of the institutions of the state.
“Under him, our institutions of state have regressed, to the point that the gains of previous institutions reforms, embarked by Our Great Party while in power, have been either lost to his inaction or to his deliberate ploy to leave our country worse than he met it.
“On this point alone, we are not convinced that he is interested in the reform of the electoral process.
“A ruling party that cannot conduct its national convention lacks the capacity to implement some of the innovative and people-empowering provisions of the bill, like the direct party primaries and electronic transmission of results from the units.
“As an opposition caucus, we will ensure that our members exercise their power under Section 58 (5) of the Constitution to veto the President whenever the National Assembly deems it fit to table the issue for discussion.”
Calling for President Buhari’s resignation, the lawmakers decried rising insecurity in the country.
“Everywhere we turn, today, our dead are either being prepared for burials by families whose hearts are torn up by grief, or they are being mourned by families who can’t tell where the corpses of their loved ones are or where the killer squads will turn up next.
“Here is the stark truth of the Nigerian condition under Buhari’s ruinous rule: citizens are in a prolonged, severe and intense state of mourning that has kept them stuck in acute anguish, pain and trauma.
“The communities of Sabon Birni of Sokoto State, Kagara of Niger State, Karim Lamido of Taraba State, Katoge and Yanturaku of Katsina State, and of the Northeast, Northwest, Southsouth and Southeast are witnesses to the reigns of terror.
“General Buhari is concerned only about his personal and family safety, and the safety of his lackeys.
“Typical of rulers in history who suffered from messianic complex, he thinks his personal survival is tantamount to the survival of the nation.
“It is this delusion that makes the governance of our country dire and costly under his rulership.
“There’s something more ruinous about his delusion: he promotes himself beyond his talent of statecraft.
“Time is running out. General Buhari should save our country by waking up from his long slumber or resign now.”
