The Senate has suspended consideration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (SB 667) which seeks to make provision for the sequence of elections in Nigeria.
Leading the debate at the plenary session of Wednesday, 18 April 2018, sponsor of the Bill, Sen. Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi: APC), informed lawmakers that the Bill sought to provide for the conduct of elections in the following order:
- Governorship elections
- State Houses of Assembly and National Assembly elections; and
- Presidential elections
Citing Section 15 (a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Sen. Nazif explained that the Constitution does not specifically provide a sequence for which elections into various offices ought to be conducted. He also stated that the provision raised concerns about the credibility of elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), hence, the need to pass into law a bill that will not give any candidate undue advantage in an election, as a result of his victory in a higher office.
However, commenting on the Bill, Sen. Ahmad Lawan (APC: Yobe) opposed its objective stating that it was improper for the Senate to legislate on the sequence of elections and should rather focus on providing legislative support to INEC for the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections.
Following this, the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (PDP: Enugu) suspended further debates on the Bill and referred it to the Committee on INEC for further legislative action. The Bill which was scheduled for second reading in the House of Representatives was also stepped down after its plenary session became more rowdy as a result of the proposed amendment.
