Electoral act amendment bill will be passed in second quarter, says senator

Kabiru Gaya, chairman of the senate committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the electoral act amendment bill will be passed by the national assembly in the second quarter of 2021.

Gaya stated this when he featured on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, on Tuesday.

The senator said the amendment bill is ready — after passing through several processes — adding that what’s left is the final passage.

Passage of the electoral amendment bill has witnessed a series of postponements by the ninth national assembly, while many political stakeholders have expressed optimism that the bill will be passed before the conduct of the Anambra governorship election scheduled for November 2021.

The amendment bill was initially introduced by the eighth national assembly under the leadership of Bukola Saraki, but President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent three consecutive times.

When the president rejected the bill for the third time in December 2018, he noted that it would create uncertainty for the 2019 elections.

However, the ninth senate reintroduced the bill.

Speaking on the latest development regarding the matter, Gaya noted that the amendment bill will soon be passed and that there will be no further delay.

“I assure you that within this quarter, because we have other processes in the senate and it is not only the electoral act bill. I’m not the one in control of whether it is passed or so,” he said.

“It is the leadership, and the leadership is also committed to getting this bill passed and rest assured that within the second quarter, this bill will be passed. There is no fixing another date.

“Actually, the bill is ready. We also need to get the leadership involved. I know we have other important bills also along the line. We have the PIB, which is very important economically to this nation, and therefore we are also working on that.”