Senate Passes New Electoral Act, Expects Buhari To 'Of Course' Grant Assent

The bill was read the third time and passed on Tuesday during the Senate's plenary session, after the adoption of a report of the Committee on INEC on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (SB. 699), presented by its Chairman, Senator Suleiman Nazif.

The Senate has passed a new version of the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

The passage came after President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent to the bill three times, on the premise of constitutional and drafting issues.

The bill was read the third time and passed on Tuesday during the Senate's plenary session, after the adoption of a report of the Committee on INEC on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (SB. 699), presented by its Chairman, Senator Suleiman Nazif.

Speaking on the development, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha said: "What APC and PDP are both interested in are transparent elections and so I want to appreciate and commend the Committee."

In his remarks on the passage of the bill, Senate President Bukola Saraki expressed the hope that the President would now assent to the proposed law.

His words: "Let me congratulate all of us, particularly the Committee on Electoral Matters for the hard work they put in. We were able to achieve this that looked almost impossible at a time, and I want to commend everybody for making this happen.

“This will go a long way in improving our electoral process and further strengthen our governance. I am sure with this now, Mr President will, of course, give his assent, and we can now finally have an Electoral Act that we would all be proud of."

 

(Sahara Reporters News)