JOHN AMEH and LEKE BAIYEWU
The power tussle between Senators, loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari, and those who are pushing for the reordering of elections heightened on Saturday with the President’s supporters promising to publish signatures of their members.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that at a meeting in Abuja last week, the pro-Buhari lawmakers decided to ensure that an open ballot voting system be used if the National Assembly eventually opts to override Buhari’s refusal to assent the amendments to the Electoral Act 2010.
The PUNCH had, on Thursday, exclusively reported that the pro-Buhari senators had collated more than 40 signatures of those who would vote against the reported move of the federal lawmakers to override the President’s refusal to assent the bill.
Buhari had withheld his assent to the bill, which principally reordered the sequence of elections ahead of the 2019 polls.
The President had written to both chambers of the National Assembly on his decision to withhold assent to the amendment bill. In the letter, dated March 8, 2018, Buhari had said the amendments made by the lawmakers were in conflict with the existing laws.
The Senate has, however, been advised by its legal department to ignore the reasons given by President and proceed with the process to veto the bill.
A new Section 25 of the Electoral Act states that the sequence of the elections will commence with National Assembly, to be followed by governorship and state Houses of Assembly, while presidential poll will come last.
It was gathered that the pro-Buhari senators had concluded plans to publish the signatures of those against the amendments.
The publication, which might be sponsored in the media, would be aimed at ejecting suspected moles allegedly planted in the pro-Buhari camp by some senators allegedly pushing for the amendments to sail through.
A source in the anti-amendment group told one of our correspondents on Saturday that since the legal department had asked the Senate to ignore the constitutional issues raised by Buhari on the bill, the President’s loyalists were also planning to protect his interest.
The lawmaker added, “The only way they can ignore what the President said is to get the two-thirds of members to veto him, but I don’t think they can get the needed number (73).
“We have gathered over 40 signatures and we will inform every signatory that we are going public and if they are ready to go along. We want to go public so that nobody will say they did not sign against the amendment.
“There are those who are here and there. We will inform every signatory of our decision to go public, so that whoever wants to withdraw his signatures now can do so.”
Although 10 APC senators had an openly protested against the passage of the amendment, the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, who was not among the 10, had, at the plenary on Thursday, announced that he voted against it.
Speaking on the choice of open ballot voting system, the senator, who confided in SUNDAY PUNCH, disclosed that the pro-amendment lawmakers, which included members of the Peoples Democratic Party, preferred secret ballot to create a shield for pro-Buhari members, who had been allegedly bought over by the pro-amendment group.
He said, “By the time you have agreed that your name should be published, nothing is hidden again. It is open already. When the signatures have already been published, there is no essence for secret ballot anymore. It will be opened to the public and the Senate. It is even going beyond calling for a division in the chamber.”
The source also disclosed that meetings had been ongoing on the move to support Buhari between a minister and three governors on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress and a national leader of the party.
“The meetings have been holding almost every day. The governors supporting our group are meeting today or tomorrow. We are meeting on Wednesday. We met on Thursday with their representatives,” he stated.
N’Assembly may not get two-thirds against Buhari
Meanwhile, there is, however, uncertainty on the possibility of the National Assembly getting the mandatory two-thirds majority to veto the amendment bill, which Buhari declined to assent..
It will require at least 72 out of 109 senators voting in support of overriding the President.
Findings showed that some senators seemed determined and believed that overriding the President would sail through effortlessly.
An official of the National Assembly said, “The senators are more determined. They want to go ahead immediately and override the President.
“You will recall that the relationship between the Executive and the Senate in particular has been anything but rosy since 2015.
“To them, this is just one of the best opportunities to make a bold statement.”
However, investigations indicated that this could not be said of the House of Representatives, where doubts had been raised on whether 240 members out of 360 would agree to override Buhari or not.
Another National Assembly top source stated, “With the House, an anti-Buhari vote will likely fail or it will be a herculean task to get the required 240.
“The North-West, the largest caucus in the House with over 90 lawmakers, will likely stick with Buhari. Lawmakers from states like Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kebbi will likely back Buhari.
“The only state where there will be a split is Kaduna State. Some of the members from Kaduna State are not happy with the President because of his unimpressive handling of the herdsmen/farmers conflicts and other communal clashes in some parts of the state.”
SUNDAY PUNCH further gathered that the development made the leadership of the House to opt for a “rather diplomatic” approach to the Electoral Act amendment bill by resolving to send it back to Buhari after expunging two of the three areas on which he had disagreed with the National Assembly.
The House had last week resolved to delete two of the amendments but still retained the provision on elections reordering.
The House said the bill would be re-gazetted, passed again and sent to Buhari for his assent.
House spokesman, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, explained that should the President still withhold his assent after the second attempt, the House would proceed to override his veto.
Investigations showed that some senior members of the House had also reasoned that caution should be taken not to “kill” the entire electoral bill because of the provision on elections reordering by going ahead immediately to override Buhari.
One of the sources said, “There are other important provisions, especially electronic voting and transmission of results by electronic means.
“If you go all out for the override and it fails, you have lost other good provisions in the bill.
“It will become like the case of the constitution amendment bill in the days of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which contained so many important provisions, but was thrown out because of the clause on ‘third term’.”
Commenting on the issue, the Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, stated that whichever way it turned out, the House would follow the constitutional procedure in deciding the fate of the electoral bill.
Gbajabiamila doubted if the House could secure two-thirds vote, saying he preferred that the matter be settled peacefully without resorting to voting.
He said, “I am not sure the House can cross that threshold (two-thirds). My hope however is that it will not come to that and the two arms of government will be able to avert the trigger and come to an amicable resolution.”
But Namdas disagreed with him. He argued that the House could get two-thirds, just that it is not about to go for voting as yet.
But Gbajabiamila said the National Assembly was bound by the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja, restraining it from carrying out further actions on the bill.
However, the House leader said he believed the court decision was a breach of the doctrine of separation of powers.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed had issued the restraining order on Wednesday last week, saying further actions on the bill should be put on hold till March 17.
March 17 is the hearing date on the substantive suit filed in respect of the amendment being done by the National Assembly.
The judge had delivered judgment in an oral application by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), lawyer for the plaintiff, Accord Party.
Mohammed explained that the restraining order was made to preserve the substance of the main suit.
We are on the same page, say Saraki, Dogara
In a related development, Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, declared on Saturday that both chambers of the National Assembly did not disagree on the amendment bill.
They stated this in a joint statement in Abuja by their special advisers on media, Messrs Yusuph Olaniyonu (for Saraki) and Turaki Hassan (for Dogara).
A national newspaper had, on Saturday, reported that Saraki and Dogara had disagreed on the way forward on the amendment bill.
But the presiding officers, in the statement stated, “We wish to inform the public that there is no such disagreement between the two leaders, and indeed the two chambers of the National Assembly.
“The Senate President and the Speaker, as heads of the two chambers of the National Assembly and representing the views of their colleagues, will want everybody to know that they are on the same page on what is the appropriate reaction to the President’s withholding of assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.”
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source http://punchng.com/polls-reordering-pro-buhari-senators-sarakis-loyalists-in-power-tussle/
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