• President to veto bill

• INEC plots challenge of amendment in court

Tobi Soniyi in Lagos

The Presidency has put in place an elaborate plan to frustrate the implementation of the amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 that has proposed alterations to the sequence of the general elections in 2019 and beyond.

By the amendment, the National Assembly election will be conducted first, followed by state Houses of Assembly elections and governorship elections, while the presidential election will be conducted last.

The amendment to Section 25 of the Electoral Act, which was substituted with Section 25 (1) has been adopted by a joint session of the electoral committees of both chambers of the National Assembly and is expected to be passed by their plenaries before transmission to the president for assent.

According to the amended version, the elections shall be held in the following order: (a) National Assembly elections; (b) State Houses of Assembly and Governorship elections; and (c) Presidential election, on separate days.
But the presidency fears that the fate of President Muhammadu Buhari may have been sealed by the time election into the National Assembly, state assemblies and the governorship have been concluded, and is, therefore, strategising to frustrate the implementation of the amendment.

A source conversant with the plan told THISDAY that the presidency is viewing the amendment as a “coup” against the president, and must be vehemently resisted.
“For obvious reasons, the presidency is not comfortable with the new sequencing of election as proposed by the National Assembly and will do everything possible to ensure that the 2019 elections are not conducted in accordance with the new amendments to the Electoral Act,” he said.

According to him, the president will not only veto the amended bill when it is sent to him for his assent, he would also encourage the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to challenge it in court.

“The Presidency expects that the National Assembly will override the president’s veto. That is when the second phase of the plan will be activated,” the source said, explaining that INEC would be working hand in glove with the executive to thwart the mandatory re-ordering of the elections.

The source, who asked that his identity be protected for fear of reprisal, said INEC on its part would put together a team of seasoned lawyers to challenge the amendment in court.

The commission, according to the source, would among others ask the court to determine who between it and the National Assembly has the power to determine the order of elections.
He said INEC genuinely believes that the responsibility for determining the order of election is its sole prerogative and not that of the National Assembly.

He gives details of the plot: “When INEC files the suit, the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Kafarati will assign the case to himself and subsequently declare the amendment invalid.
“As we talk, the Department of State Security has already collected ‘enough dirt’ on the judge. He will be left with no choice but to rule in favour of INEC.”

He cited the dispatch with which the judge granted the order to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as one example of the judge’s readiness to do the bidding of the federal government.
“Besides, the judge desperately wants confirmation. He will need to convince the executive of his usefulness before he can get such confirmation,” the source added.

The source also said that INEC would quickly comply with the judgment and that by the time the National Assembly applies to the Court of Appeal to challenge the high court judgment, it would be too late for INEC to comply with the order of election preferred by the lawmakers.

The conference committee on the Electoral Act amendment bill, comprising the Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its House of Representatives counterpart, had last Tuesday voted to change the order of the general elections.
The committee, by its action, adopted the position of the House of Representatives, which on January 23, 2018 voted for the elections to be reordered.

The conference committee also voted to concur with all other amendments made in the version of the Act passed by the House of Representatives, at a session presided over by the chairman, Senator Suleiman Nazif.
Section 87 was harmonised with the new Subsection (11) on the order and timing for the conduct of primaries of political parties.

Subsequently: “The primaries of political parties shall follow the following sequence: (i) State Houses of Assembly (ii) National Assembly (iii) Governorship, and (iv) Presidential.
“The dates for the above stated primaries shall not be held earlier than 120 days and not later than 90 days before the date of elections to the offices.”

The co-chairman of the conference committee, Hon. Edward Pwajok, responding to questions from newsmen after the voting session, said the harmonised bill would be presented to both legislative chambers for adoption.

He said: “From here, we are going to consider other items that need concurrence where there are differences between the Senate’s version of the Electoral Act amendment bill and the House’s version. When we harmonise all the areas of differences between the Senate and the House, then we will report progress to both chambers.

“It is expected that when we concur, the Senate would sit and vote in support and the House would also sit and concur. After the concurrence by both chambers, we will send the harmonised bill to Mr. President for his assent.”
The development confirms recent reports by THISDAY on fears in the presidency and at INEC that the Senate would adopt the amendment of the House, which would affect the 2019 general election.

The fear in the presidency is that the bandwagon effect of the first set of elections into the National Assembly could affect the other elections. Under the current order, the reverse is the case as the outcome of the presidential elections, in particular, has a bandwagon effect on the governorship and state assembly elections.

The amendment would also disorder INEC’s timetable for the 2019 general election, which was released about a month ago.

Going by the INEC timetable, the presidential and National Assembly elections were slated for February 16, 2019, while the state assembly and governorship elections were scheduled for March 2, 2019.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/02/14/presidency-in-grand-plan-to-abort-new-order-of-elections/

No matter how hard bubu tries to complicate things he must move out from aso rock come 2019

Game of throne

Let the fight begin.

the over "ambitiousness" of dogara and saraki will be their undoing. i SERIOUSLY doubt that the general will swallow this poisoned chalice from the national assembly.

OBJ changed the order of election and got us all into this mess.

The terrorist is afraid of relinquishing power... your days are numbered.

Here comes another PROPAGANDA!
Something for the wailers to mast#urb#te with on Valentine's day!!!

Funny how the press tries to instill bias in a reader's mind even before they get to read an article.

First, it was INEC that proposed a sequence because it is their duty to do so. Members of the National Assembly saw that the proposed sequence wasn't gonna favour them, they therefore amended it in such a manner as to favour them.

When they did this, it was neither a PLOT, an execution of a GRAND PLAN, or an ABORTION of the initial proposal. But now, the presidency IN THE SAME VAIN, makes plans to alter the sequence in such a manner as to favour them and suddenly their moves are being described with all these negative adverbs.

Every party involved would do as they believe would favour them, as long as no law is being broken in the process. No need being overly sentimental about it.

It is unfortunate that we have self serving National Assembly. In whom interest is this law? I will support them is they said we should go back to 1999 order.

Well... this is how its supposed to be done, for better tranparency. Moreover this would make our governors sit up and work for re-election rather than relying on party popularity.

The presidency has the executive powers, him being elected first really has a bandwagon effect on other electable offices in Nigeria which does not conform with tenets of democracy.

biacan:
No matter how hard bubu tries to complicate things he must move out of aso rock come 2019

Dont you get it,? It wasn't Buhari's doing. The amendment was proposed by the National Assembly.

Only fools think that their PVC will count.

See how determine Buhari is to stay in power and achieve Usman Dan Fodio's dream.

Laugh.
Is APC not majority in NASS again

hakimi1974:
the over "ambitiousness" of dogara and saraki will be their undoing. i SERIOUSLY doubt that the general will swallow this poisoned chalice from the national assembly.

Does a president need to be crafty if he has performed well?

Fools everywhere. This useless newspaper was forced to return the illegal money it collected from Jonathan, so I am not surprise by it's meaningless assumption. During Goatluck period, it was DG of SSS that determined when and how elections were held. The DG of SSS whom Buhari has now put in permanent detention went to London to say that elections would not hold as scheduled by INEC so that Goatluck would have more time to share money and bribe more people including CAN, OPC, traditional rulers, even Nigeria Witches Association got its own share of the national cake. We all know how the story ended. National Assembly was mute then.

This is yet another evidence that proves all Nigerian politicians are selfish and corrupt

All they think about is themselves and their pockets

Bubu promised us change, we thought by now
PMS will be selling at N45 or less
by now $1should be #1
by now our children will be eating free lunch at school
by now Ayo oke and people like bashir should be in jail
by now our railway will be the best in Africa
by now we should be stoning APC for deceiving us
by now boko haram should have been a thing of the past
by now no more medical treatment abroad
by now no more Fulani herdsmen genocide
by now bubu should be ashamed to seek reelection
by now that so called pastor should be condemning the genocide going on in this country
by now NA should be in the bush flushing out herdsmen
instead the opposite was what we got and that blood thirsty beast is still looking for a way to rig the election.
daura is already singing baba oyoyo, and for that short pastor that deceived us 2015, God will judge u, our votes will judge u and the blood of the 73 slain victims in Benue and more will cry out loud against, continue. waiting to see when ICC will come after bubu

Their election
Their wahala
Mtcheeew

What are they afraid of?

Rigging plan being activated earlier than schedule?

APC...

Esseite:


Does a president need to be crafty if he has performed well?

this has got nothing to do with performance, it is all about their own way of weakening the presidency for their own selfish and dubious interest. the president will use all means to throw this nonsense to the thrash bin where it trully belong.

Free, fair and credible elections died in Nigeria with exit of Goodluck Jonathan.


INEC is now working hands-in-hand with the executive arm of government to preserve Buhari in power come 2019.



Shame on Nigerian youths.

Life!

The same way that Goodluck changed the date of elections from February to March just to buy time for himself is what the APC Presidency is trying to do.

I've not seen a Presidency that lost so much amount of good will in its first term. Obviously, Buhari is bent on destroying his name made over the years.

Whatever those evil people trys to do. God has the final say. He did it before in Abacha's regim he will do it again. It is only the counsel of the Lord that Will stand in Nigeria. Shekina!!!

APC IS ABOUT TO SELL NIGERIA FINALLY

I no tell una? Fulanis are the grand masters in the game of political chess. You all are shouting "Go get your PVC ready for 2019 elections", "We most send buhari back to Daura"...

Well I've got bad news for y'all...

One out of 2 likely outcomes will unfold in 2019... The presidency may cancel elections citing reasons such as insecurity (they'll say that because of events in Nassarawa, Benue, Taraba etc, it would be unsafe to conduct elections and not including this states will be seen as disenfranchisement hence the elections generally will be boycotted) This means "No Elections and Buhari continues his tenure"...or...

2) Elections will hold with APC rigging it to their favor in such a manner that it will be the most criminalized form of rigging ever done in the history of Nigeria. Infact, it will be so glaring that after y'all have voted for PDP or any other party, they'll take your ballot papers and transfer them to the APC booth and declare buhari the winner!

Outcome: Nothing...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will happen rather than we all running back to Nairaland to whine about Buhari and the fulanis. Any form of protest will be met with stiff resistance by the Nigerian Army with bullets kissing the heads, chest and a*se of the protesters.

Remember, A NEW SHERIFF IS IN TOWN AND THIS SHERIFF IS NOT READY TO LEAVE YET! Abi ina think say Buhari na GEJ?

Nigerians ntoooooooorrrr! Enjoy the CHANGE the yorubas and northerners foisted on us.

Same news In GEJ time

I thought they said, he can't defeat even prophet Moham-MAD in election.... he can use this 2019 to check his popularity... citizens get your PVC we have a job to do

What is presidency afraid of? I thought Bubu has performed and he's still performing.

Whether he assent to the bill or not, National Assembly have the power to overwrite the presidency after a certain period of time if he refuses to sign.