The founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside has urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to assent to the Electoral Bill which has been on his desk for weeks.
This comes after a coalition of civil society organisations took to Unity Fountain in Abuja on Tuesday to protest the president’s delay in assenting to the bill to make it law.
In a tweet via his official handle, Peterside said the president sign the Bill into law so that his regime could be credited with the projected electoral reform in the country.
Peterside, who is the President of Anap Foundation, added that it in the seven years of President Buhari’s regime, there had been no progress regarding electoral reforms.
He wrote, “[Muhammadu Buhari] should please just sign this Electoral Bill so we can give him the credit for having done something tangible in the area of electoral reform.
“It has been almost seven years of zero progress in this area under his watch.”
On Monday, December 20 2021, the President returned the bill to the National Assembly calling the legislature to review the direct primary clause and citing insecurity challenges.
NASS had reviewed the document and made few adjustments and have since resubmitted the Bill to the president for his assent. However, the president after many weeks had yet to sign it into law.
On Tuesday, one of the President’s aides, Femi Adeshina, said Buhari would sign the Bill into law in a matter of hours.
The number of said hours was not specified.
