By PAMELA EBOH, Awka
Foremost human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), has urged members of the National Assembly to invoke the provisions of section 58(5) of the Constitution to pass the Electoral Bill into law.
Under the section, Senators and members of the House of Representatives could veto the bill rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari by two-thirds majority of both Houses.
Adegboruwa in a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to assent to virtually all amendments of the Electoral Act, despite promising electoral reforms during his campaigns, means that he prefers to retain all the manifest flaws bedeviling the electoral system, from which himself and his ruling party are benefiting to the detriment of Nigeria’s democratic advancement.
Backing his stance with Nigeria’s Constitution, he said: “By virtue of Paragraph 15 (b) of Part 1 to the Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution as amended, INEC shall register political parties in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and an Act of the National Assembly.
“By virtue of section 222 (a) of the Constitution, no association, by whatever name called, shall function as a political party, unless a copy of its constitution is registered with INEC.
“By virtue of section 223 (1) (a) of the Constitution, the constitution and rules of a political party shall provide for periodic election on a DEMOCRATIC basis of its principal officers.
“By virtue of section 224 of the Constitution, the Programme as well as the aims and objectives of a political party shall conform with the provisions of Chapter 2 of the Constitution.
“By virtue of section 40 of the Constitution, INEC is conferred with power to register or refuse registration of political parties.”
He said that from the above stated laws, the Constitution, the Electoral Act and indeed INEC, are expected to regulate the activities of all political parties, including their various constitutions.
The statement added: “That being the case, the reason adduced by the President, for withholding his assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, that the said Bill violates the constitution of the political parties, is not supported by the Constitution which created the political parties in the first place.
“The registration of political parties is regulated by INEC in accordance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act. Thus, the constitutions of all political parties are to conform with these laws and not the other way round. It is the political parties that will amend their constitutions to conform with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“Since the President assumed office, he has withheld his assent to virtually all amendments of the Electoral Act, even though he promised electoral reforms during his campaigns.
“Although the President is entitled to the discretion of his assent to any Bill presented to him, however, the reason adduced for the exercise of such presidential discretion must be legal and valid. It is clear that the discretion has not been properly exercised in the national interest, in this particular case.”
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