Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday read a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari informing the National Assembly of his decision to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The Speaker and the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, however, blocked the move to debate the rejection.
Shortly after Dogara read the letter in plenary, a member, Mr Aliyu Madaki (PDP, Kano), raised a point of order to criticise the President for not assenting to the bill.
Madaki said, “This has a lot to do with the well-being of this country. What we want is a free, fair and credible election. Mr President refusing to assent to the Electoral Act (amendment bill) shows clearly what he wants to do. The whole world is watching. Everybody is watching…”
Gbajabiamila, who raised another point of order to counter Madaki, asked that the assent withdrawal should not be debated.
He said, “I have been a member of this House for 16 years. We have never, by precedence, custom and tradition, debated a letter which is by way of information. If there is the need to debate the President’s letter, we will table it on the Order Paper for debate.
“Several letters have been written by several presidents to this House. Whether we like it or not, it is a communication to the House. If we want to debate it, we will place it on the Order Paper tomorrow (today), and we are fully ready, willing and able to debate the issues. But it has to be according to our rules and the laws of this House.”
In his ruling, Dogara said, “I agree that this matter should be laid to rest today. There is a provision in our rules that guides this kind of communication and I will advise that we follow the provisions of the rules.”
The post Electoral Act: Gbajaiamila Stop Dogara And Co. On Debating On Buhari’s Letter appeared first on Naijaloaded | Nigeria's Most Visited Music & Entertainment Website.
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