Yemi Adedeji, Abuja
The National Assembly plan to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which is proposing, among others, to alter the sequence of elections in the country may have received a boast as governors seeking second term in office have tactically support the move by the lawmakers.
The governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors have quietly thrown their weight behind the move by the National Assembly to override the presidential.
Buhari recently vetoed the Electoral Amendment Bill on the grounds that the section that is proposing to alter the election sequence for the presidential elections to hold last would infringe on the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise and supervise elections in the country.
However, the National Assembly has vowed to override the president’s veto, with lobby intensifying by the day among pro- and anti-Buhari legislators to vote for or against the bill, amid allegations of offers of inducements by the executive arm of government to kill the bill.
A highly placed source in the National Assembly who said he had spoken to many of the governors, especially those seeking a second term in office, have given their tactical support surreptitiously to the amendment of the Electoral Act.
The source, who spoke in confidence on the backing of several state governors, said many of them are concerned that the president might work against them once his election has been held first, hence their preference for the amendment to the Electoral Act.
He said many governors have been quietly urging their lawmakers in the National Assembly to accelerate the process of overriding the president’s veto.
Other governors, it was gathered, are eager to see the amendment passed.
The National Assembly can override a presidential veto if two-thirds of its members in both chambers vote for the bill to become law.
