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President Muhammadu Buhari has explained why he withheld assent to the Electoral Act amendments sent to him by the National Assembly.
In a letter sent to the National Assembly, Buhari said he declined presidential assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly due to the following constitutional reasons:
” A.The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act, may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution;
“B.The amend to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates, unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process;
“C. The amendment to Section 152 Subsection 325 of the Principal Act may raise Constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections,”
Senate President Bukola Saraki read the letter to the senate during plenary on Tuesday.