The Senate and House of Representatives at its plenary session of Tuesday, 25 January 2022, rescinded their decision on amendments to the Electoral Bill which it considered and approved on Wednesday, 19 January 2022, and passed new amendments.

Presenting the motion for rescission, the Leader of the Senate, Sen. Abdullahi Yahaya (APC: Kebbi) stated that the Senate observed some fundamental issues with Clause 84 of the Bill which deals with the Nomination of Candidates by Political Parties that required further legislation before re-committal to the Committee of the Whole for consideration and passage.

At the Committee of the Whole, lawmakers had considered and adopted the new amendments to Clause 84 which now clearly spells out the requirement for nominating candidates of political parties under direct primaries, indirect primaries, or consensus candidate.

In the House of Representatives, the Chairman, Committee on Rules and Business, Hon. Abubakar Hassan Fulata (APC: Jigawa), moved the motion for rescission and re-consideration of amendments to the Electoral Bill. He noted that the house on Wednesday, 19 January 2022, adopted direct or indirect primaries as the procedure for nomination of political party candidates, but there is need to introduce Consensus Candidate as one of the procedures and this has necessitated these amendments.

At the Committee of the Whole, members of the House of Representatives considered and adopted the submission by Hon. Fulata on the need to rescind its earlier decision on Clause 84 of the Bill and thereafter approved and passed the Electoral Bill with the same amendments as the Senate’s version.