Gbaja: We want electoral act that doesn’t compromise Nigeria’s sovereignty

Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, says the ninth national assembly is working to ensure that the electoral act amendment bill doesn’t compromise Nigeria’s sovereignty, when signed into law.

Earlier in July, the house had passed the electoral amendment bill, adopting e-transmission of results where practicable.

While hosting a team of the European Union (EU) delegation in Nigeria led by Samuela Isopi, the head of mission, on Wednesday, the speaker said no country has a perfect electoral system, but the national assembly is making serious efforts to make Nigeria’s electoral law to be in tune with the country’s peculiarities.

“You talked about the much talked about electoral act amendment. For you to have a good democracy, you need to have a good electoral law. Our electoral law is not perfect, just like your own is not perfect,” he said.

“But our goal is to make it perfect. That’s why in the ninth assembly, we try to see that we make our electoral act to be perfect. We took our time to be thorough without sacrificing anything.

“Today, we’re at the threshold of history. We want to have an electoral act that is acceptable to the majority of Nigerians. We want an electoral act that does not compromise the sovereignty of Nigeria. That’s key to us. Nigeria is a very plural society in terms of religion and ethnicity. These are some of the considerations we have to make.”

Gbajabiamila, who congratulated the new head of EU mission in Nigeria on her appointment, said “I believe with a lot of collaboration, we can do a lot and greater things together.”

On her part, Isopi said the visit was to introduce herself as the new head of mission of EU in Nigeria, and to give assurances of EU’s commitment to strengthening its partnership with Nigeria, and the national assembly, as well as to formally announce the coming of a special mission later in November.

She said since 1999, the union had been a major partner in promoting Nigeria’s democracy, especially in the area of supporting the national assembly on electoral matters, women and the youth.

“We have closely followed the developments here, and I’ll like to applaud the approach that the national assembly has taken in the electoral amendment. We’ll continue to support democratic governance and institutions in Nigeria,” she said.