Hajia Aishatu Dukku, Chairman, House Committee on Electoral and Political Parties’ Matters has given the assurance that President Muhammadu Buhari will soon sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill into law.
Dukku, who represents the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Gombe State, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Monday in Abuja.
Newsmen report that the National Assembly last week passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill after addressing some concerns raised by the president.
Newsmen also report that on Aug. 30 the president returned the bill to the National Assembly after withholding his assent for the second time.
According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, his boss declined his assent due to some “drafting issues that remain unaddressed following the prior revisions to the bill’’.
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Dukku explained that the Senate and the House committees worked on all the sections with Enang and top officials of INEC, leading to a review of all the president’s concerns.
She said that since those areas of concern had been addressed, the president would sign the bill into law.
“Yes, I am very optimistic that Mr President will sign the bill because those areas he raised when he refused assent, we have dealt with them.
“We have involved INEC, we have involved the two joint committees of the Senate and the House, and we have involved the Presidency. So we are all on the same page now.
“We want to believe that Mr President is also eager to sign the bill and we know that he wants a free, fair and credible election come 2019, so he will assent to this amendment,” she said.
She said when finally signed into law, the act would give INEC the necessary environment to function effectively in the conduct of the 2019 general elections.
According to her, the bill will also give the judiciary a clear picture about handling of anticipated issues; pre-election matters and post-election matters.
“So it will give the country generally an overview of what will happen and make it easy for us to conduct the election,” she said.
NAN
