Electoral Bill: Reps set to override Buhari, pass document into law

House of Representatives may not bat an eyelid in overriding President Muhammadu Buhari on the yet-to-be assented electoral amended bill.

This is because the constitutional 30 days window given to the president to give his assent or withhold same to the bill of the national assembly has elapsed.

Sunday, December 19, 2021 was the deadline, marking exactly 30 days the bill was transmited to the President to sign it into law.

As at now, there is no communication from the President to the House on whether he will be giving or withholding his assent to the bill.

Barring any last minute eventuality, the National will be vacating on Tuesday for the 2021 Christmas holidays.

Resumption is expected to be in the second week of January, 2022.

Section 58 (4) of the 1999 (as amended) stipulates that “Where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall within thirty days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.”

Similarly, section 58 (5) provides thus “Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

The implication of this section is that If the President withholds his assent and it is again taken to both Houses of the National Assembly, two-thirds majority of both Houses must pass the Bill.

If two-thirds majority in each House pass the Bill, then that Bill becomes law and the Presidents’ assent i.e. approval is no longer needed or required.

It will be recalled that two major contentious clauses in the bill were the electronic transmission of election results and the direct mode of primaries for political parties to choose their candidates for elections.

Amidst the debate on the two clauses, however, the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has repeatedly cleared the air, saying those are no issues.

In their different reactions to the deadline, some members of the House who spoke exclusively to Vanguard on Sunday said they will override the President to make the bill a law.

The House should veto the President-Hon. Ifeanyi Momah, representing Ihiala federal constituency of Anambra State

“It is simple. The House should veto. That is the most conscionable and honorable thing to do, considering the level of “political awareness” and “Get involved” spirit from everyone. Just open up the system for all and sundry with no exceptions.

“I ‘ll lobby for NASS to override the President- Hon. Henry Nwawuba, member representing Mbaitolu/Ikeduru federal Constituency of Imo State

“The electoral act amendment is perceived from different perspectives by different stakeholders. For those who want Direct Primaries they are unable to weigh in on the weightier matters of the amendment particularly in relation to enthroning electronic voting options as a way to deepen our democratic experiences. 

“What worries me is that we do not throw the baby out with the bath water. I will lobby, support  and campaign vigorously for us to invoke section 58 sub 5 of the 1999 Constitution and go ahead and override Mr. President so that the Bill become Law. 

“The Bill contains many innovations that promote transparency to our democratic experiment, concerning the electronic transmission of election results  and the mode of selecting candidates by political parties during primaries.

President’s problem is electronic transmission of election results ember representing Obio/Akpor- Hon. Kingsley Chinda, member representing Obio/Akpor federal constituency of Rivers State 

“The President is only toying with the psychic of Nigerians. His problem with the electoral act is not the direct primaries but the direct transmission of results from the units. They do not want direct transmission and are only using the direct party primaries as an excuse. 

“I will only say that power comes from God, the antics of the President and some of his party members will not stand  if God does not permit. 

“I have long lost hope in the ability of the 9th NASS to confront the Executive on behalf of Nigerians when the Senate President unapologetically said that whatever the President wants, he will do. I hope to be disappointed or proved wrong by NASS successfully overriding the President.”

However, a former member of the House who represented Jos North/Jos South Federal Constituency of Plateau State,  Hon Edward Pwajok, SAN, said that the President can still respond even after the time has elapsed.

“The President can still respond after the one month the Constitution has provided for him to sign or decline assent to bills sent to him. The National Assembly has to decide whether they want to override the President’s veto. 

“Presidential veto arises where the President formally communicates his decision declining assent or is implied where he does not do anything on the bill sent to him after 30 days. The National Assembly can only override the veto by two thirds majority of all the members of each chamber of the National Assembly, so the National Assembly leadership 

must be satisfied that they have the numbers to override the veto before embarking on that course and if they do, the bill must undergo the same procedure of three readings, though it can be fast tracked.

“In between the one month and when the National Assembly decides on the next line of action, the President can still validly communicate his decision. The 30 days is not a time limit for him to act. Section 58 of the Constitution is the provision that guides and regulates passage of bills and assent or veto override.”

NUPRC attributes P’Harcourt fuel scarcity to diversion

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has blamed some retail outlet owners for the fuel scarcity being experienced in some parts of Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

It said it has therefore sealed three petrol stations in the metropolis over alleged diversion of products.

The commission, formerly known as the Department of Petroleum Resources, said the three stations were sealed during a surveillance operation by its officials.

The commission’s Port Harcourt Zonal Controller, Goddy Ine, disclosed this on Sunday while addressing journalists after the exercise.


Ine warned against diversion of products thereby causing artificial scarcity, saying his men are always on the alert to track those indulging in such illegal activities.

He said, “It was obvious from the panic buying in some parts of the state that some of the petroleum dealers are diverting the product they have lifted from the depots.

“My men are always on the alert when we conduct such surveillance. We discovered that the stations where those products were meant to be taken to had no products.



“So, where have they taken the products to?”

Ine vowed that the commission will go after retail outlets in rural areas that sell products at unapproved prices.

“There is no disparity of pump prices anywhere in the state. Government has also not approved any increase in pump price. So, the difference could be whether you are dealing with a major company or you are dealing with an independent company, where the prices could range from N162 to N168 and thereabouts.

“Nobody is allowed to sell above the acceptable price limit. Of course, you know that we are going to name them and shame them also,” he stated.

JUST IN: Canada lifts travel ban on Nigeria, nine others

Canada on Friday lifted the travel ban on Nigeria and nine other African countries.

The other nations whose travel ban had been lifted were Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Ottawa had on December 1 extended the travel ban to Nigeria, Egypt and Malawi amid worries over the spread of the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron.

This followed the detection of cases of Omicron in two people who had travelled to Nigeria.


The Canadian Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos who announced the development at a news conference on Friday, however, said the lifting of the travel ban would take effect from 11:59 p.m. on Saturday.

The country also reintroduced testing and warned that the Omicron variant was rapidly overwhelming hospitals.

Duclos said: “The restriction had been announced last month to slow the arrival of Omicron in Canada and buy us some time

“But with Omicron now spreading within Canada it is no longer needed.

“Pre-arrival negative PCR tests for all travelers would also be reinstated as of December 21.

Nigerian govt ministries can’t account for N324 billion – Audit Report

Federal ministries, departments and agencies failed to account for N323.5 billion in 2019, with many offices violating rules on payments, remittances and tax, the government’s latest audit report has said.

The dubious spending included unapproved allowances, unretired advances, irregular award of contract, payment for services not executed and payments without voucher.

Most of the violations were observed across 27 MDAs with at least four of them recording cross-cutting issues from non-compliance and internal control weaknesses issues, the audit report, the latest from the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, said.

The largest chunk of the expenditure was N132.5 billion used in paying unapproved allowances to staff in 20 MDAs, the report said. The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc spent the highest amount of over N97 billion, while the National Commission for Colleges of Education, Abuja, spent N2 million, the least.

According to the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the authors of the report, the spending violated Paragraph 415 of the Financial Regulations that states, “The Federal Government requires all officers responsible for expenditure to exercise due economy. Money must not be spent merely because it has been voted.”

The second biggest waste noted by the audit report was N127.1 billion, being internally-generated revenues and other funds not remitted to the government by 15 MDAs.

Under government laws and regulations, all federal agencies that are fully funded from the treasury are mandated to remit 100 per cent of their internally generated revenue to the government’s central account. A circular in 2011 requires all federal agencies to limit their utilization of internally generated revenue to not more than 75 per cent of the gross revenue while the balance of not less than 25 per cent should be remitted to the government purse.

Of the N127.1 billion unremitted money, Nigeria Customs Service had the highest amount of N125 billion, while Anambra-lmo River Basin Development Authority, Owerri had the least amount of N5 million.

Also, nine MDAs spent N49.5 billion on unbudgeted items, with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development having the highest amount of N48 billion, while the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, Abuja, recorded the least amount: N1 million.

Ten MDAs misspent over another N18.2 billion. The agric ministry again took the lead here with N11 billion.
More infraction

The report said N6.5 billion was recorded as payment made without payment vouchers by four MDAs with Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, having the highest amount of N5 billion.

Over N6.2 billion was expended on contracts/services not executed by five MDAs. Of this, the Nigeria Ports Authority had the highest amount of over N4 billion while Federal Government College Enugu has the least amount of N 83 million.

According to the report, 12 MDAs did not remit taxes totalling N5.8 billion. “Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has the highest amount of N2.9billion while Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology, New Bussa has the least amount of N1million,” the report said.

Twenty four MDAs granted the sum of N4.5 billion as advances which was above statutory limits of N200 thousand.

The report also recorded N4.3 billion as vouchers being paid by 27 MDAs without attachment of relevant supporting documents. The Code of Conduct Tribunal topped the chart here.

UK to lift travel bans

The United Kingdom government will be scrapping the travel ban imposed on countries after the detection of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Daily Mail reported that Grant Shapps, the UK transport secretary convinced authorities to replace the ban with testing even for the fully vaccinated and it is expected that this will be approved and effected this week.

Recall that the UK government placed a temporary ban on air travel from Nigeria and six southern African countries; South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe, in a bid to curb the spread of Omicron variant of Coronavirus.

The recent decision was reached just days after it was reported that the Nigerian government will reciprocate the travel ban placed on Nigeria over the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.

NDLEA nabs Ghanaian, 2 Nigerians at Enugu, Abuja airports with 9.9kg Cocaine, Meth

A Ghanaian and two Nigerians have been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and Akanu Ibiam international Airport, Enugu respectively for trafficking a total of 9.953kilograms of Cocaine and Methamphetamine.

One of the suspects, Uzoh Ndubuisi Johnson was arrested on Wednesday 8th December 2021 at about 5.30pm during an inward screening of Ethiopian Airlines passengers at the Arrival Hall of the airport.

Uzoh who arrived from Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was controlled and arrested with clothes impregnated with cocaine, which has a gross weight of 6.7 kilograms.

While being interviewed by narcotic officers, Uzoh said he was given the consignment by his enabler based in Brazil for which he would be paid N3million upon successful delivery to someone in Nigeria.

In the same vein, another trafficker, 53-year-old Udeh Charley was arrested at the Enugu airport for ingesting 72 wraps of Cocaine weighing 1.253kilograms.

He was arrested on Friday 3rd Dec. during outward screening of Ethiopian Airlines passengers going to Rome, Italy via Addis Ababa.