President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly postponed the signing of the amended electoral bill to Friday.
The reworked Electoral Act Amendment Bill has been on Buhari’s desk since January 31, 2022, when it was transmitted to the president by the National Assembly.
Amidst protests over the delayed signing of the bill, Buhari’s senior media adviser, Femi Adesina, had said the president would sign the bill on Tuesday or Wednesday (today).
“It could be signed today; it could be signed tomorrow. In a matter of hours, not days. Hours could be 24 hours, it could be 48 hours; not days, not weeks,” Adesina had said while appearing on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.
But the TV station on Wednesday reported that President Buhari had postponed the signing of the bill to Friday, citing presidency sources.
Report earlier indicated that the presidency described the civil society organisations protesting the delayed signing of the reworked bill as ignorant of provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
“It is on record that the amended Bill was sent to the Presidency on January 31, 2022, which means that the Executive could do due diligence on it till March 1, as prescribed by the Constitution,” the presidency had said in a statement shared on its Twitter account on Monday.