Presidency Reveals Why Buhari Signed Electoral Act 2022

The Presidency has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law in order to deliver change in Nigeria.

Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu, made this known in a statement released on Monday titled, ‘Assent into law of the electoral act 2022: Landmark moment for the nation’.

The Presidency disclosed that the signing of the bill underscores the government’s commitment to ensuring free and fair elections and justice to all political participants.

According to the statement, the President’s assent to the bill has eroded what was witnessed in the past when self-interest overrode the nation and the fashioning of electoral acts.

“This of course runs parallel to that which we witnessed in the past when self-interest overrode the nation and the fashioning of electoral acts.

“More than anything else, this law underscores the government’s commitment to ensuring free and fair elections, dignity of the citizens, opportunity, and justice to all political participants whether they are voters or candidates.

“This law furthers social empowerment and inclusion by limiting the influence of money on elections and raw power of incumbents to use to the disadvantage of opponents outside the political tent.

“It equally limits the thuggish practice of kingpins who scare voters and officials away, snatch ballot boxes to fill desired outcomes against the popular wish,” the Presidency said.

The Presidency alleged that Goodluck Jonathan’s administration tried to bend the electoral system in its bid to scuttle President Buhari’s victory during the 2015 presidential election.

It stated that the inadequacies in electoral law made the President to assent the Electoral Act 2022 after the back and forth on some controversial provisions of the bill.

It added: “It is easy to forget that the election of 2015 was the first time in the history of Nigeria that power peacefully changed hands at the ballot box. It was the first time any party or candidate not from the incumbent PDP had won a nationwide contest since the re-establishment of democracy.

“This came despite the then administration pulling every lever of its sixteen-year incumbency to bend the electoral system to its advantage.

“President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election by a 15 per cent and a 4 million vote margin in 2019 was therefore equally decisive: it was the first time a non-PDP administration had even been returned to office to a consecutive term.

“The last two contests represent the levelling of the political playing-field between long-time incumbents and long-time opposition by sheer force of citizens’ determination for change. Nigerians voted so decisively for the President and the APC, and the margins so significant that the result could not be in doubt.”

The Presidency added that the assent underscores the perfect workings of a parliament and executive both driven by a new energy to deliver change in Nigeria.