The Senate and the Federal yesterday dropped a bill that sought to re-amend the electoral act.
The senate had earlier passed a bill seeking to amend the act, thereby re-ordering the sequence of the election.
It sought to make the presidential election to come last, after governorship election, with the first being the state assemblies/national assembly and the second, the governorship election.
The presidential election is first in the election timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But President Muhammadu Buhari withheld assent to it, saying it undermines the powers of the INEC.
The senate then re-introduced the bill, with the aim of overriding the presidential veto on it.
In the re-introduced version, however, the governorship election comes first, before the state assemblies/national assembly elections, with the presidential election still being the last.
When the bill was called up for second reading on Wednesday, some of the senators wondered why a different version of what was passed earlier should be re-introduced.
Some senators also kicked against the bill, describing it as “legislative rascality.”
Olusola Adeyeye from Osun state said “this was not the original bill that was passed by the senate”.
He also said: “The spirit of the law is to give the electoral body total independence. If INEC is given any prerogative to choose dates and they do so, please let us leave things the way they are.
“INEC in the past were given the freedom to choose their dates for election, we must not change it now. Let us leave them to fix the dates themselves; anything else is legislative rascality.”
However, Dino Melaye, from Kogi State, said the senate still has the constitutional powers to amend the electoral act and change the sequence of elections.
He, however, asked his colleagues to postpone the second reading “for us to research more on it” — a prayer they rejected.
Similarly, the lower legislative chamber dropped the bill after Edward Pwajok, a Plateau lawmaker, who sponsored the bill, said he was withdrawing it.
The lawmaker after consultations, he was advised to withdraw the bill.
When he called for the withdrawal of the bill, Femi Gbajabiamila, leader of the house, raised a point of order saying he was not informed of the intended withdrawal, despite his name being on the bill.
The house, however, adopted Pwajok’s prayer, and subsequently dropped the bill.
The house had earlier passed the bill, but President Muhammadu Buhari withheld his assent to it.
He said the amendment infringed on the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The amendment had generated intense criticism from various quarters, including INEC.
The crisis witnessed at the senate earlier on Wednesday is as a result of the attempt to reorder the 2019 elections.
Ovie Omo-Agege, a senator from Delta state, had opposed it, saying Buhari might be the target.
Displeased with his action, the senate suspended him. One week after the suspension, he invaded the red chamber with suspected thugs who carted away the legislative symbol of authority.
