New electoral act, recipe for chaos – BMO

The Buhari Media Organization (BMO) has stated that the new electoral law is a recipe for chaos in the country saying that President Buhari’s decision to withhold accent to the Amended Bill forwarded to him by the National Assembly is in the best interest of Nigeria’s democracy. The group noted in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke that the decision has saved the country from a chaotic electoral process. The statement reads: “It is trite that the deployment of a new electoral law only two months to an election is a recipe for chaos. Introducing a new law that redefines fundamentally the processes of our elections is only setting a shaky foundation for the 2019 polls. “Also, with such fundamental changes such as the introduction of electronic transmission of results, and the compulsion in the use of the card reader without any remedy, among others, staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would have to be trained and re-trained within two months, a period that is certainly not enough”. The group pointed that an ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance discourages any forms of amendments or changes to electoral laws 6 months before any election, and hailed the President for complying with democratic best practices. “The Federal legislature had in the process of presenting the Bill for the President to sign in the last four occasions, made several unforgivable drafting errors. At every point, he identified these errors and sent them back for corrections – and he was right every time. So much that the third time the National Assembly passed on the Bill for the President’s signature, they had conspicuously and suspiciously removed the use of the card readers during elections. The President sent it back and insisted that it be included”. According to BMO, “Any attempt by some desperate unpatriotic Federal Lawmakers to override the President’s veto would amount to a battle line being drawn between them and the Nigerian people and their right to free and fair elections. “We call on the sensible members of the National Assembly to prevail and ensure that the electoral processes are not toyed with for the self-serving interests of some of their colleagues; but rather ensure that the errors identified by President Buhari are looked into, rectified and sent back for his assent”, the statement added. Tom Okpe, Abuja