Buhari’s request to delete section of Electoral Act ‘elevated nonsense’ – Odinkalu

Nigeria’s former Chairman, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Professor Chidi Odinkalu, has described the request by President Muhammadu Buhari for the National Assembly to delete a section of the just-signed amended Electoral Act 2022, as elevated nonsense.

RELIABLESOURCENG.COM reports that President Buhari finally signed the amended act on Friday, February 25, 2022, after he had severally rejected the bill, returning it to the National Assembly for further amendments.

However, the President prior to signing the act on Friday, commended lawmakers for passing the bill but objected to S.84(12) of the law and requested the National Assembly further amend the law in order to repeal rust provision.

But Odinkalu, in his reaction to Buhari’s request, urged the National Assembly to “disregard and resist this request”.

The former human rights commission chief proffered his reasons, “Here, is why. Electoral Act S.84(12) says: ‘No political appointee at any level shall be voting delegate or be voted for at the Convention or Congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.’

“Now, President Buhari claims that: The practical application of section 84(12) is to “by operation of law, subject serving political office holders to inhibitions and restrictions”, disabling them from running for office or participating as party members under the constitution.

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“This is elevated nonsense. The words may have been uttered by Buhari but the thoughts are those of Abubakar Malami (Attorney-General of the Federation). To begin with, there is no human right to be a political appointee. It is a privilege at the pleasure of the appointor.

“If a political appointee wishes to become a mover and shaker in the party or to run for office, they have the option to do the right thing and resign first, in order to devote all their attention to that. It also means they don’t steal public money to fund their political ambition.

“I would expect a president committed to fighting corruption to understand the design of National Assembly in this provision and to commend it. Lots of Ministers in Buhari’s cabinet who want to run for office are holding on to office, waiting to hollow out this year’s budget. That sucks!

“Any suggestion by anyone, no matter how elevated, that S.84(12) is contrary to any constitutional provision is plainly illiterate, uninformed, self-serving or all of the above and worse. These people aren’t content with plundering the country. They want to scorch the earth. Stop them!

“S.84(12) has and deserves its place in the amended Electoral Act. Citizens must resist Abubakar Malami’s transparent design to make nonsense of the electoral system in Nigeria for his personal purposes. And the Senate and House of Representatives, as the National Assembly, must do the same.

“One more thing: Buhari, as president, does not have a power of line-item veto. He cannot cherry pick or pick-and-choose what parts of a law to take. The insertion by Buhari is actually contrary to the constitutions of the leading parties, including his own APC.

Odinkalu said President Buhari’s request showed “the desperation of the people in power”, and warned about any attempt by the executive arm of government to induce the legislators to do the president’s wish by bribing them.