A group, the Unified Nigerian Youth Forum, has hailed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for signing into law, the long-awaited Electoral Bill on Friday.
The group noted that the President’s action was not only a welcome development but also commendable, adding that the signed bill would greatly reform the electoral space.
The group, however, urged the National Assembly to ignore the President’s appeal that the lawmaker expunged section 84 which stipulated that “anyone holding any political office either as a minister, commissioner, special adviser and others, he/she must relinquish the position before they can be eligible to participate either as a delegate or candidate.”
According to him, the request by the President is not in the interest of the nation’s democracy and the institution saddled with the conduct of our election.
In a statement by the group’s National President, Abdulsalam Kazeem, in Kaduna, the group said the various clauses as outlined in the bill, would no doubt strengthen the nation’s democracy.
While urging the National Assembly to ignore Buhari’s request on section 84, the group said, “The credibility of our polls will bring about positive impact on us among nations, therefore, the appeal by President Mohammad Buhari to the leadership of 9th National Assembly to immediately amend the Act and expunge section 84 which stipulated that anyone holding any political office either as a minister, commissioner, special adviser and others, he/she must relinquish the position before they can be eligible to participate either as a delegate or candidate, should be outrightly ignored since the request is not in the interest of the nation’s democracy and the institution saddled with the conduct of our election.
“Anything short of this will further prove to Nigerians that our legislative arm of government is a rubber stamp as previously alleged by many political affairs analysts.
“The President must at the point prove to us that national interest supersedes individual and personal demands by not using his above request to delay the release of fund which in return will slow down preparations of the 2023 general elections.”
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