The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has said that President
Muhammadu Buhari was ill-advised by the enemies of democracy to withhold
assent to the recently passed Electoral Act amendment by the National
Assembly, urging the lawmakers to invoke their veto powers and sign the
amendment into law in the interest of the country.
While reacting to the rejection of the amendments to the Electoral Act by
the President, the CNPP in a statement by its Secretary-General, Chief
Willy Ezugwu noted that no sacrifice was too much to save the country and
the Nigerian democracy from nosediving into a one party state.
According to the CNPP, “those advising the President on the reordered
electoral sequence must have deceived him that the amendment was targeted
at his reelection. In any case, is Nigeria not greater than any one man’s
ambition?
“The President should focus on conducting a free and fair election like
the previous government, which conducted the election that brought him
into office.
“The truth of the matter is that a President that has done well will be
reelected irrespective of the date the presidential election was
conducted.
“Therefore, the unannounced fear of the Presidency that the amendment will
adversely affect President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection is unfounded as
the withholding of the Presidents assent is not in his interest. The
action is strongly portraying Mr. President as one who is not concerned
about deepening democracy and has no interest in the credibility of
elections after his tenure.
“We therefore urge the representatives of the people at the National
Assembly to immediately invoke their constitutional powers and veto the
President’s assent to move the country forward on the path of true
democracy”, the CNPP said.