Why Electoral Act Amendment Bill failed, – Gbajabiamila – TheNigerialawyer

* House to revisit Constitution amendment, NGO Regulatory Bill,
PIGB, others

House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has said the
Electoral Act Amendment Bill did not pass because most of the
provisions were targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Speaker stated this yesterday in his Abuja office when he
hosted a team from the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), led
by its Executive Director, Clement Nwankwo.

He said: “On the issue of reordering of elections, for instance,
we felt it was targeted at the sitting President. You can’t do laws
to target somebody. There was also the issue of who has the right
to reorder elections. There were arguments that the Constitution
says the Independent National Electoral Election (INEC) should do
that.

Gbajabiamila, who said the two chambers of the National Assembly
were in the hands of the opposition at the time, added that there
were a lot of “surreptitious moves” in the attempt to amend the
Electoral Law.

“Where in the world are the two chambers (of Parliament) headed
by the opposition?” he asked.

The Speaker said the House would revisit the amendment of the
Electoral Act, that of the Constitution, the NGO Regulatory Bill
and others.

He also said the House would give attention to the Petroleum
Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), the Police Reform Bill, the
Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) amendment bill, among
others.

This time round, the National Assembly would ensure a thorough
work, which will ensure that the President assents to the bills,
unlike what happened during the last Assembly, where the
constitutional and Electoral Act amendment bills were rejected by
the President, Gbajabiamila said.

He said: “The roles of the CSOs are not in doubt. We all know
what your roles are anywhere in the world. You’ve enumerated quite
a number of bills. As you know, the Ninth House is a House of
reforms. We’re going to be doing all that.

“You did talk about pending legislation, such as the electoral
laws. We’re on the same page on this. We can’t move forward if we
don’t understand the history and circumstances that led to the
inability to do some things.

“On the issue of Police Reform Bill, we’ll look at it once
again. On National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO)
Bill, we will also look at it. The PIGB, the CAMA Bill and the
rest, we’ll work on them and get them to the president for his
assent,” he said.