Update: Despite Warnings From Nigerians, Tinubu Endorses Amendment Bill

• Signs it into law within 24 hours raising concerns in some quarters

By PHC Telegraph

Despite pressures from a cross section of Nigerians, including labour, professional  groups, civil society organisations and politicians urging President Bola Tinubu not to endorse the newly amended version of the Electoral Act passed by the country’s bi-cameral legislature, the nation’s number citizen has gone ahead to pass it into law.

President Tinubu who hurriedly signed the law against the backdrop of INEC’s  release of the 2027 election timetable discarding fears that the new act will allegedly harm the image of the nation.

The President expressed strong confidence that the repackaged electoral act would provide a foundation for free,  fair and credible elections in the country. Critics of the electoral amendment however disagree. They wonder how the President could have swiftly signed the amended bill into law without allowing for a proper study.

Ene Obi, a civil society activist who  appeared on Arise on Friday swore that civil society adherents would mobilize the Nigerian people against the ongoing rape against democracy, scoffing at a former activist in the Tinubu government, Festus Keyamo who is now the Minister of Aviation for saying civil society does not represent the Nigerian people and so cannot speak for the Nigerian people.

Obi said it is obvious there is a vacancy. She said that the Nigerian people as the employer of all those who serve the nation would fill that vacancy in 2027, stressing that the duty of civil society organizations would be to continue to sensitize ordinary Nigerians to utilize the power of their vote and their right to choose in making community changing decisions.

Mike Igini, a former Electoral Commissioner who spoke on The Morning Show broadcast on Arise Television on Wednesday had urged the president as a stakeholder in the struggle for democracy not to burn his democratic credentials. He said it would be best if  the President  withheld his accent to the amendment. He noted that the attempt by the National Assembly to undermine the will of the people would backfire.

Igini and others like him may have been too late. The President assented to the bill, framing its passage as the answer that the nation needs to take the nation to newer heights.

The lawyer did not spare the judiciary. Most Nigerians see the judiciary as an accomplice and a meddlesome interloper. Igini came down hard on the judiciary, saying his “constituency” has been part of Nigeria’s electoral rot.

A lawyer in Port Harcourt who did not want his name in print said, “I am so ashamed to be called a lawyer. The judiciary has stooped so low such that it has become part of the mess. It has delivered and continues to deliver rulings that are questionable. We have watched senior lawyers desecrate the temple of justice and engage in forum shopping, and seen judges descend into the arena after  receiving bribes in a manner that has ridiculed the integrity of the courts.”

Lawmakers on the floor of the House of Representatives had disagreed over the addition of a clause to an earlier version of the amendment passed in December, with some of them chanting “APC Ole!”

While Service providers acknowledge they can provide INEC with the coverage that it requires to effectively transmit real time election outcomes electronically, the National Communications Commission, NCC, admits the country enjoys over 97% coverage. But lawmakers behind the modification of Section 60, sub section 3, notably senators insist that the inclusion of the manual vote clause is a safety valve which is not intended to override INEC’s reliance electronic voting.

Addressing the press, Kingsley Chindah, leader of the minority on behalf  of the opposition said it was up to the Nigerian people to take up the fight and defend their democracy. Sounding resigned, the usually vibrant lawmaker said they had done all they can to push for electronic voting with little success.

Tuesday prominent leaders of Nigeria’s opposition and civil society organizations, including Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Omoyele Sowere, Oby Ezekwesili and others urged Nigerians to prevail on lawmakers to do what is right. Protesters were equally teargassed Tuesday as they demanded the removal of the clause first introduced by the Senate which has presently created room for the retention of manual voting.

But it was Nyesom Wike whose comments provided a kind of anti-climax  as the battle to salvage electronic voting went on. Wike wondered why Amaechi came along with his son, a medical doctor to the gate of the National Assembly where protesters had gathered without any equipment and without an ambulance to treat or convey injured persons.

Meanwhile, Amaechi has vowed to go on exile if President Tinubu wins in 2027.