Electoral bill: National Assembly’s credibility on the line, says NBA

The Nigerian Bar Association has urged the National Assembly to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021.

NBA President Olumide Akpata, in a statement, said the credibility of the National Assembly was on the line to “either take the historic decision to override the president’s veto or immediately take the take the necessary legislative.”

“We cannot find any justification for the president to have waited until the final moment before communicating his refusal to assent to the Bill,” Akpata said.

“Waiting until after expiration of the 30 days, and even taking advantage of an additional day under the Interpretation Act while the entire nation, waited with bated breath, only to communicate a veto, is not consistent with the conduct of a partner in the quest for the needed reform of the country’s electoral process, which should ordinarily be a cardinal point of the President’s agenda, and more fittingly, legacy.”