The 2018 Electoral Act Amendment Bill was an orchestrated booby-trap by the Peoples Democratic Party’s element in the National Assembly for President Muhammadu Buhari to plunge the country into anarchy which would ultimately have led to interim government after May 29.
Making the assertion yesterday, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) presidential candidate, Dr. Onwubuya John Abraham Breakforth, said had the President caved in to pressure mounted on him by the PDP and its cohorts and assented to the bill, he would have succeeded in disorganizing the processes of the 2019 general elections.
According to the candidate, if President Buhari had not declined assent to the Bill apart from breaching the processes for the elections by compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to alter its schedule for the 2019 elections, the nation would have had to grapple with the arduous task of providing electronic devices as logistics within the limited-time fame for the elections as required by the Bill.
“The 2018 Electoral Act amendment bill was a booby-trap by the PDP elements in the National Assembly led Senate President Bukola Saraki for President Buhari to plunge the country into anarchy.
“The intention was to ensure that as soon as the President gives bill assent to the bill, the entire electoral processes would have been altered, INEC time table could have been adjusted to accommodate the new processes as required by the law.
“That was the booby-trap because it would have been impossible to meet the fresh logistics requirements, alter the elections schedule without postponing the elections. You could not do this without breaching the constitutional provision for the time lapse between the period of conducting the presidential election and the May 29 handing over date.
“So it was patriotic for President Buhari to decline assent to the bill, It was a wise decision because had he not it would have derailed the entire electoral processes, INEC would have been compelled to adjust its timetable in line with the new law.
“Of course, that would have caused confusion and chaos, the result would be mass protest, and the litigations. These can unsettle the polity, plunge us in anarchy and there is no way the present government can contain the uprising and the chaos before May 29”, he said.
Dr. Breakforth further adduced that with the compulsory exit of President Buhari on May 29, the ground would be cleared for the National Assembly whose life continues until sometime in June to invoke the ‘doctrine of necessity’ and call for an interim government.
“Of course, with the exit of an elected government on May 29, the NASS can invoke the doctrine of necessity which is a constitutional provision for an interim government since they can’t be a vacuum.
“Of course, Bukola Saraki as the Senate President would emerge as the Interim President pending the conduct of fresh election within three months. So Buhari was wise to avert the danger that was looming in the name of 2018 Electoral Bill and by so doing demonstrated gallantly that he is a patriot”, he concluded.
The Presidential Candidate Forum Secretary and former two-time national deputy chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) said he and members of the FJP as patriots applauded the President’s decision to decline assent noting that those who joined the PDP to mount pressure on Buhari to give assent to the bill largely did so out of ignorance.
“No, I, as a patriot, does not want anarchy nor interim government and because we don’t want this country to into crises we insisted that the bill should kept in abeyance until after the elections to prevent chaos in the polity”, he said.
Recall that President Buhari had penultimate Tuesday declined assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill for the fourth time giving limited time frame as reason for doing so.
