…Opposition parties threaten showdown over electoral bill
Over 40 opposition parties under the umbrella of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) have resolved to adopt Opposition Code 20 if President Muhammadu Buhari fails to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law.
The amendment, if signed into law, will make the use of card reader statutory and the only instrument of accreditation thereby permanently doing away with the use of incident form.
The parties said they were worried that it was 71 days to the commencement of the 2019 elections and that in less than 72 hours, the 30 days limit allowed by law for Buhari to assent to the bill would elapse.
The code is enshrined in Section 20 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which allows citizens to perform police duty of arrest.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the spokesman of CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, flanked by leaders of other opposition parties, expressed fear that if the amendment was not signed, the elections would end up the most violent in the nation’s recent history.
“It is now about 28 days since the National Assembly forwarded to the president and for the fourth time necessary amendments to our Electoral Act. The president has not signed the amendment. We are also sad to say this to you, that there is intelligence that President Buhari has agreed with his kitchen cabinet not to sign the amendment into law.
“We have been informed that after several undue delays, the president is set to communicate the National Assembly anytime from today that he will not be able to sign the amendment due to the existence of Article 2 of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance which prohibits countries from making electoral act amendments less than six months to elections unless there is consent of political parties,” they alleged.