- APC Reps will thwart such moves – Gbajabiamila
He spoke with newsmen on Wednesday in Lafia.
He said that the continuous refusal of the President to assent to the amended Electoral Act was no longer acceptable, given its significance at ensuring credible elections in 2019.
According to him, the responsibility of salvaging the nation from the present predicament and delivering credible polls in 2019 rests with the National Assembly.
“The National Assembly has right by law to override the President; therefore, they should exercise their right without being told, in order to guarantee free, fair and credible elections in 2019.
“It is only the signing of the amended Electoral Act into law that would give legal backing to the use of card readers,’’ Walid said.
The BOT chairman said the party and its presidential candidate had a robust blueprint that would get Nigeria working again across all sectors.
He decried the level of hunger and poverty being experienced by Nigerians and urged them to vote for PDP in 2019 in order to turn their fortunes around.
According to him, politics is aimed at bettering the lives of the people and not to bring hardship on the citizens.
President Buhari had for the fourth time declined to assent to the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2018 and communicated to the National Assembly his decision.
Meanwhile, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, says APC house members will thwart any plan to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto to sign the Electoral Act into law.
Gbajabiamila, an All Progressives Congress Chieftain from Lagos told newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday that the party had more than the required number to stop the process.
He explained that for the house to override the president’s veto, it required a minimum of two-third majority of its members.
It should be recalled that President Buhari for the fourth time, declined assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on the grounds that it was too close to the 2019 general elections to change the rules of engagement.
Gbajabiamila said that the National Assembly needed to put in more touches to the bill for it to be signed into law.
He said the president declined to assent the bill to enable many Nigerians have the opportunity to vote in cases of card reader malfunction.
“We have seen instances where the card readers have failed, what Mr. President has done is to protect everybody in Nigeria, many could be disenfranchised and we do not want that.
“If they are able to muster two-third and push it forward, there is nothing we can do but as a party, we are not going to be part of it as it makes no sense to override in the case of an important document,” he said.
The leader explained that a fire brigade approach must not be adopted saying that the amendment was too close to the elections “and that is the reason for the ECOWAS protocol.”
The lawmaker said that it was too late in the game to begin to thinker with the rules and that the APC had the numbers to stop a veto.
NAN/Punch
