Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a swipe at the President for withholding his assent.
The party, however, said it was eagerly waiting the final decision of the National Assembly on the amendment. In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP said it was not surprised that the president refused to sign the bill, particularly given the tendencies he has continued to display as a politician.
“The PDP believes in democracy and subscribes to all its tenets, including the respect for the powers of the National Assembly to make laws and to amend such laws as occasion demands. “As a party, we are not afraid of the 2019 general elections because we know that Nigerians have already rejected President Buhari and his dysfunctional All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Against this backdrop, the PDP assures to provide all the members of our great party a level playing ground to choose a presidential candidate in a National Convention that promises to be open, free, fair, credible and transparent.
“We know that with the support of Nigerians, any candidate that emerges on our platform ahead of 2019 will clinically defeat President Buhari at the polls and lead our nation back to the path of progress, national cohesion and a vibrant economy,” the PDP boasted. But the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that it has no position on the 2019 general elections timetable. The APC said the matter is between the legislature and executive.
Speaking on the decision of the president to decline assent on the amendment, APC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said: “For the party, we think it is an issue between the Executive and the Legislature. “As a party, it doesn’t matter to us which election comes first; as a party, we will work according to INEC timetable.
So, we don’t have a position on which election comes first.” Also, the United Progressive Party (UPP) has urged the National Assembly to veto the electoral bill rejected by the President.
National Chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie, said it is disappointed that President Buhari has defied all logic to decline assent to the Electoral Bill remitted to him by the National Assembly mainly because of his disagreement with the order of elections, which put presidential election last for the 2019 general elections and beyond.
Comments
