President Mohammed Buhari has withheld assent to the Electoral Act Amendment bill as passed by the Senate.
In a letter to the red chamber, and read by the president of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan ,President Buhari explained that the bill would give rise to many litigations that might not be in the interest of country.
According to him the conduct of elections for the nomination of party candidates through direct primaries as proposed by the Electoral Act has many legal, security and financial consequences, which cannot be accommodated under the president economic situation.
The electoral Act Amendment bill 2021 seeks to amend certain provisions of extant act 2010, part of the objective is the amendment of section 87 of the electoral act 2010 to delete the provision for the conduct of indirect primaries in the nomination of party candidates so that party candidates can only emerge through direct primaries.
President Buhari said the conduct of direct primaries across the over eight thousand wards would lead to an increase in the cost of conducting primary elections by parties.
The letter reads in parts by Senator Lawan.
President Buhari urged the lawmakers to review the bill to allow political parties exercise right of choice in deciding which primaries to adopt.
By James itodo