The announcement was made at the plenary
presided over by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara. The motion to drop the bill,
which was on Item 7 of the Order Paper of the day’s proceeding, was moved by
Chairman, Rules and Business, Emmanuel Orker-Jev.
Orker-Jev, who represents Buruku Constituency
of Benue, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview shortly after
the plenary that the debate on the bill could not hold because the sponsor of
the bill was in another meeting with her colleague in the Senate.
” Well, the bill is on the process of
harmonisation. The Chairman of the Committee on Electoral and Political Party’s
Matter, Hajia Aishatu Dukku, was meeting with her Senate counterpart to bring
out a harmonised version so that when we debate it on the floor of the House,
there won’t be any basis for another conference committee,” he explained.
The lawmaker assured that on Tuesday, next
week, the matter would come up and the bill would be done with. He allayed
fears that the bill may not scale through before the conduct of the 2019
General Elections.
” The fears by Nigerians are unfounded because
that is why we want to circumvent the idea of prolonging the procedures and
processes. ” When you have the chairmen of the committees of both sides of the
National Assembly meeting, by the time it comes on the floor, we will cut out
the whole of the not-here, not-there issue because we’ve already known that it
is something that is agreed on between the two chambers. ” So that is what they
are trying to avoid. We are going to sit on Tuesday, I assure you and Nigerians
that the matter will come up and possibly be done with,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
President Muhammadu Buhari had returned the bill to the National Assembly on
August 30 after he withheld his assent to it for the second time. Many
Nigerians, including members of the civil society organisations (CSOs), had
expressed fear that the bill might not see the light of the day before 2019
poll, calling on the lawmakers to treat it with the urgency it deserves. However,
the bill, which is currently at the Committee of the Whole, could not pass on
Wednesday as the House adjourned the plenary to Thursday, this week, for
continuation of the debate due to the controversy it generated over the Card
Reader clause. Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Electoral and
Political Party Matters, Hajia Dukku, had briefed members on the areas of
dispute between the National Assembly and President Buhari. Dukku, a member of
the APC from Gombe State, listed 11 sections which she said the president
raised objections to.
They included sections
9,18,27,30,34,36,44,87,112 and 151. She explained that the Senate and the House
committees worked on all the sections in conjunction with the Senior Special
Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita
Enang, and top officials of INEC, leading to all of the president’s objections
being addressed
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