PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has finally signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law.
Buhari assented to the bill on Friday, a few days after a presidential aide assured Nigerians that it would be signed in a matter of hours.
The ICIR had reported that Buhari declined assent to the electoral bill on five previous occasions.
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Buhari declined assent to the bill for the fifth time in December 2021, blaming a clause which compelled political parties to adopt direct primaries as his reason for rejecting the proposed legislation.
To address Buhari’s concerns, the National Assembly upon resumption after its Yuletide recess moved quickly to amend the bill.
BREAKING: President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 into law.
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) February 25, 2022
On January 25, the National Assembly passed the amended electoral bill which provided political parties with three models of primary elections – direct, indirect and consensus.
The amended bill was subsequently transmitted to Buhari on January 31, in line with provisions of Section 58 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the Acts Authentication Act Cap. A2 LFN 2004.
As Buhari finally signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, here is a summary of 10 key provisions of the law as articulated by Enough Is Enough, a non-governmental and civil society organisation.
Nigerians had mounted pressure on Buhari to sign the new law and during the week, about 26 civil society organisations protested against the delay in assenting to the bill.
Reacting to the pressure mounted on the president, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina, in a statement titled ‘Assent to electoral bill: No need for saber rattling’, insisted that Buhari cannot be forced to sign the law.
Adesina also accused some groups of using the electoral bill to score cheap political points.
A reporter with the ICIR
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