The Senate postponed session on Tuesday to today (Wednesday) in order to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.) veto of the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendments) Bill 2021.
According to our findings, federal MPs have decided to vote on the topic on the resumption of plenary today.
Senators who talked off the record and on the record expressed dissatisfaction with the President’s criteria for withholding assent to the Electoral Bill.
After the Senate emerged from its first closed session, Buhari’s viewpoint was expressed in a letter sent to the Senate President, which was read at the commencement of the plenary.
The closed session began at 10:44 a.m. and ended at 11:21 a.m., lasting 37 minutes.
In a letter dated December 13, 2021, President Buhari indicated that his decision to withhold assent to the electoral bill was based on advice from relevant government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies following a comprehensive study.
Signing the bill into law, according to the President, would have major legal, financial, economic, and security ramifications for the country, especially given Nigeria’s uniqueness.
He went on to say that it would have a negative influence on citizens’ constitutionally guaranteed rights to engage in government.
At 1:57 p.m. on Tuesday, the Senate convened in closed session to discuss the President’s reasons for declining to sign the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendments) Bill 2021.
Senator George Sekibo of Rivers East raised a point of order, requesting that the Senate meet in closed session to consider the subject.
By 1.57 p.m., the Senate President had upheld Sekibo’s point of order, and the closed session had begun.
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