Femi Gbajabiamila who is The Speaker of the House of Representatives, has finally declared that the House will consider a motion to override President Muhammadu Buhari on Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act due to certain circumstances.
Gbjabiamila directed Ben Igbakpa to present a motion for the House to consider overriding the president.
Igbakpa, who lost his primary election, raised a point of order challenging calling for a veto of the President on the controversial Section 84(8).
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It would be recalled that the lawmakers had erroneously omitted statutory delegates for convention and primary elections.
The lawmakers passed an amendment to address the omission, however, the president is yet to sign the bill.
In his point of order, Igbakpa said the lawmakers must veto the president because the 30 days window presented by the Constitution for a president to sign or decline assent has elapsed.
Gbajabiamila, while responding, said it will take a 2/3 vote to veto the president, hence, the lawmaker should present a substantive motion to that effect.
Earlier, the deputy minority leader Toby Okechukwu, who also lost his primary election lamented the role of the electoral act in the Tsunami that hit the National Assembly.
He called for the review of the electoral act.
Africa Today News, New York had reported that the Speaker also lamented the losses suffered by the lawmakers due to the delegate system.
He had faulted the way political parties conducted primaries leading to the failure of some members of the National Assembly to get tickets of their respective parties to seek re-election in the 2023 general elections.
Gbajabiamila particularly criticised the failure of the parties to allow statutory delegates to vote for candidates at the primaries, as the National Assembly proposed in the amendment to Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act 2022, which the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.,) has yet to assent to.
The Speaker expressed his reservation in his address at the resumption of plenary on Tuesday, saying there were forces who frustrated the efforts by the parliament towards enhancing the process.
The resumption followed the decision of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria to suspend its strike which commenced last Monday.
Gbajabiamila partly said, “Unfortunately, as is always the case in electoral contests, some of us who sought the nomination of our parties to return to legislature did not get it. Others who sought nomination to contest other positions have also fallen short in that quest.
“It is rather unfortunate that the process went the way it went. I make bold to say here that the legislature has once again suffered losses. The loss really is not for members who lost, it is a loss to democracy, to the institution and to the country.
At the Senate, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, advised his colleagues who lost the just concluded primary elections at various levels to take heart and continue to pursue what they believe in.