By Mary Onyia
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would expedite action on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill latest by Wednesday (today) and represent it to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent before the end of this week.
He promised Nigerians that the country must have a new electoral law that will guide the 2023 general elections in the country, and Nigeria would have everything to benefit from this law.
Lawan gave the hint on Tuesday in an address delivered at the start of plenary to welcome Senators back from the Christmas and New Year break.
He recalled that the Senate postponed discussions on the consideration of the response of President Muhammadu Buhari on the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill in December last year.
He said this became imperative to enable the National Assembly consult with its counterparts in the House of Representatives and their Constituents, respectively.
According to him, the Senate would expeditiously look into the Electoral Bill having concluded all the needed consultations on the President’s response.
“Like we all know, the Senate and indeed the National Assembly worked so hard on the Bill. Having consulted, the Senate will expeditiously look into the issue”, he said.
He, however, said that if the “cleaning process” took more than a day to complete, then it would be represented to Buhari early next week.
He said, “By the grace of God, tomorrow both chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives, will pass the bill. And I hope that by the end of the week, the bill could be brought back to Mr President for his assent.
“I hope that but one thing I’m sure by the grace of God is we are passing the bill, the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2010, tomorrow, Wednesday in both chambers, and we are happy that at the end of the day, we have been able to narrow down our differences and arrive at the very patriotic resolution that our country must have a new electoral law that will guide the 2023 general elections in the country, and Nigeria would have everything to benefit from this law.
“And for us in the 9th Assembly, the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is one of the primary legislative agenda that we wanted to deal with in the 9th National Assembly, and to the glory of God Almighty Allah by tomorrow (Wednesday), we will be able to pass that bill for Mr President to consent to it.
“I hope that the cleaning process will not take more than a day. But if it does, then it has to be early next week. But I’m very optimistic that there is not much to clean up because normally, when we pass a bill like this, it goes to the legislative drafting unit of the National Assembly.”