A former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Buba Galadima, has condemned the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Galadima criticized the President for his dissent to the bill in an interview on Sunday on Channels Television’s political flagship programme.
“This government is a government that is desperate; that wants to be in power by all means. There is nothing under the sun that they cannot do,” he said during his appearance on Sunday Politics.
He added, “The President doesn’t have that prerogative. It is not personal, it is a constitutional issue.
“It is a Nigerian issue and any patriotic Nigerian would assent to something that will bring benefit to Nigerians, will bring about a credible election, free and fair election, level-playing field.”
Galadima who is also one of the spokespersons for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign said he was not surprised that President Buhari rejected the bill.
He accused the APC of a plot to rig the general elections in 2019, alleging that the rejection of the bill was part of plans by the ruling party.
The PDP chieftain said, “I know as of fact and I have said so several times over for the last one year that Buhari will never sigh the Electoral Act (Amendment Bill).”
“This is why they are not campaigning, this is why they are not mobilizing people, this is why they are not looking for people’s vote because as I envisaged, they want to cut corners and write figures and announce to the Nigerian public during elections,” he alleged.
Galadima who said this was unacceptable recalled that one of the President’s campaign promises in 2003 was to make sure that the votes of Nigerians count and to reform the nation’s electoral process.
He claimed that the President “has nobody to vote for him”, accused of him lacking integrity, and wondered if had he gone back on his words.
“Is he not the Buhari that we used to know that his words were his bone?” the former APC chieftain questioned.
Galadima, however, called on Nigerians and relevant stakeholders, as well as the international community, to pressure the President to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law.
In a swift reaction, the spokesperson for the Buhari Campaign organization, Festus Keyamo, described Galadima’s allegations and controversy surrounding the President’s decision as “very unnecessary”.
President Buhari had explained that he declined to assent to the bill because it might cause confusion in the forthcoming polls, among other reasons.
It is the fourth time he is rejecting the bill.
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