Ugochukwu Iwuchukwu
A former governorship candidate on the platform of Labour Party Tonye Princewill has expressed optimism that President Buhari would assent to the Electoral Act despite the delay.
There has been fear amongst Nigerians that the delay by the President to give his assent to the Electoral Act five times in a row may necessitate the invocation of a “doctrine of necessity” to override a possible impasse that may arise in the process.
Speaking during a chat with Journalists in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital Tonye Princewill explained that due to some issues in the bill, the President refused to assent to it.
“An amendment has been made now, and Nigerians should give the President some time. The fact that he (President Buhari) has not signed it yet does not mean that he is not going to sign it. Nigerians should give the President some time”.
“Don’t forget that when the previous bill was submitted to him, he was particular about the issue of direct primaries and he had to write to various Stakeholders to get feedback from them”.
“There are some clauses in that bill that are probably difficult. One of such clauses is that all officers’ that want to contest the elections have to resign before the primaries. There are some slight changes that the lawmakers (National Assembly) inserted which may make it difficult for the President to swap.
“I am very sure that in no distance time, we will have an outcome. The President will assent to the bill. I don’t want to preempt the President on what exactly the outcome will be. One thing I know and I can also assure Nigerians is that the President will not be talking about the doctrine of necessity to remain in office beyond his time in 2023”, Princewill assured.
