The House of Representatives on Thursday said it will not prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill currently before him.
This was disclosed by Mr Abdulrazak Namdas, Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity while speaking with newsmen in Abuja.
Namdas however, said that the House would invoke its constitutional powers if the President failed to sign the Bill.
According to the lawmaker, the house will be forced into action if the president failed to assent to the Bill at the end of the mandatory 30 days required by the Constitution.
He said, “as at today, the president has not assented to the Electoral Act Bill, and what I said is that we have options, which is not just on the Electoral Act.
“If the president refuses assent to any bill, he sends it back to us, and this president has a habit of giving reasons for not signing any bill. The latest is the Peace Corps Bill; at least, he stated his reasons.
“So, naturally we cannot override when the man has not even given reasons and not done anything. So, we have to wait.
“We have got the option to override, but we have to wait. We cannot do that until we hear from the president before this thing takes place. So, I think it’s not as if we are sitting and waiting patiently.
“What if the man assents to the bill, it ends the story. So, let’s wait till the procedure comes to a conclusion. We cannot just preempt what the president will do.
“Definitely, we have to give him the latitude to do what he wants to do,” Namdas said.
It will be recalled that the National Assembly recently amended the Electoral Act which cause a change in dates for elections.
