10th December, 2018
PRESS
RELEASE:
DON’T SIGN AMENDED ELECTORAL BILL
The National Assembly (NASS)
recently sent the amended Electoral Act to President Muhammadu Buhari. However,
the latter is yet to append his signature. He has also given reasons for his
action.
Meanwhile the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has waded into the matter.
According to the Islamic group, President Buhari was right to withhold his
signature. MURIC in a press statement issued on Monday, 10th
December, 2018 hinged its decision on the closeness of the 2019 elections and
the fact that the eighth national assembly could not be trusted.
“The
2019 general elections are too close for the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to start implementing a new system. Last minute changes in
the rules and regulations of a national election can be dangerous. Any new
amendment bill is capable of causing confusion among political parties and also
in INEC’s camp.
“Besides, no patriotic Nigerian can trust this NASS. What is there to
trust in a NASS whose members gather for a national competition for sleeping on
duty? What is there to trust in a NASS that shows no concern for the economy
and delays budgets up to seven months? How can any patriotic Nigerian repose
confidence in a NASS that cuts budget in ten critical areas of the economy only
to add those cuts to its own? This NASS is anti-people and its amendment to the
Electoral Act is suspicious.
“We strongly support President
Muhammadu Buhari for not signing the amendment. It should be properly
scrutinized. We suspect that the NASS has a hidden agenda as usual. This set of
lawmakers has been working for a particular interest group whose objective is
to rock the boat of the present administration. Their strong link with
anti-June 12 elements, their romance with politicians facing corruption charges
and their hobnobbing with the predominantly bourgeois political class reveal
where they are coming from.
MURIC poured out its disappointment
with the NASS. “A NASS that can tinker with the money allocated to Lagos-Ibadan
expressway is not worth the salt. This expressway is the only link between the
North and the South and millions of Nigerians have been suffering there for
more than fifteen years. Is there any member of the NASS who has never used
that ‘distress’ road? Have they forgotten so soon because they are now
lawmakers?
“It is unimaginable that any Nigerian lawmaker will think of cutting
the amount allocated to the Lagos-Ibadan ‘distressway’ project. It is a crime
against the masses who ply that road on a daily basis. It is almost an
unforgivable sin as the bad road has claimed hundreds of lives in the past.
Those lawmakers need to seek Allah’s forgiveness because the blood of the
innocent accident victims cries out for justice.
“The Lagos-Ibadan rail-line would
have been completed this December 2018 but for the delay of the budget by the
NASS. It is strongly suspected that the delay was deliberate. Since the
leadership of the NASS is working for reactionary elements who are hostile to
the present administration, the delay was calculated to slow down progress of
projects being executed by the government in order to diminish the latter’s
chances in the 2019 general election.
“But that only exposes the lawmakers as selfish politicians and the
NASS leadership as manifesting a pathological desertification of statesmanship.
The truth is that while politicians think of the next election, statesmen think
of the general interest of the people. Statesmen think of the next generation,
nay, of future generations. That is why the NASS leadership was keen on
delaying the budget for so long while brainwashing the members and blackmailing
the presidency at the same time.
“A NASS that can fiddle with the
money allocated to the counter-part funding for the Mambilla Power Plant,
Second Niger Bridge, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road and Itakpe-Ajaokuta
Rail Project cannot be taken serious. N11.5 billion was cut from those projects
and added to the budget of the NASS.
This is a NASS that is bent on
selling Nigeria to its members. How can we still trust them with our Electoral
Act? The most irrational cut occurred in the provision for the construction of
the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport which was cut from N2 billion to N500
million. The NASS exposed its insensitivity when it allowed the cuts to affect
the Maritime University in Delta State despite the educational backwardness of
the Delta area. Even the National Housing Scheme was cut by about N7.8 billion.
“Apart from cutting
N347 billion Naira in the allocations and adding other projects of their own
amounting to N578 billion, they also increased the budget estimate from
N8.6 trillion submitted by the President in November 2017 to N9.120 trillion
when they passed it in May 2018.
“The question MURIC is asking the tiny cabal is whether 200 million
Nigerians were born to serve them and their offsprings forever. For Allah’s
sake, what have we done to deserve this injustice? Just 1% of the Nigerian
population controls more than 85% of the total wealth, leaving a whole 99% of
the population comprising of highly educated and hardworking Nigerians to
struggle for a paltry15% of the wealth.
“In spite of the allocation of
this gargantuan portion of the common wealth to itself, it is shocking that the
NASS cannot pay its own workers. The demonstrations staged by its workers a few
days ago have exposed the leadership of the NASS as slave-drivers who pay
pittance to its workers and feudal lords who do not care about the welfare of
its workers. We are however not surprised because lawmakers who care little for
the nation cannot be expected to care for its workers. It is a shame that the
same leadership want to rule Nigeria.
The present NASS is the worst in
the history of this country. This is a NASS that goes on recess at the
slightest excuse. It is either because the microphone is not working properly or
the electricity is not bright enough. Who should be blamed if any equipment in
the NASS fails to work? Where does the buck stop? A whole NASS may suspend
sitting because a single lawmaker has a case in court. Its members would have
been enjoying immunity by now but for the Tsunami of public outcry which
greeted the attempt to enact a bill for that purpose.
“We
wonder what this NASS takes Nigerians for. Do they think we have been hit by an
outbreak of general amnesia which makes us forget what unpatriotic lawmakers
have done to our country? Or do they assume that we have been hit by an
epidemic of dementia that affects our sense of judgement such that we will now
be supporting them and blaming the presidency?
“As we draw the curtain, we appeal to
President Muhammadu Buhari to protect Nigerians from this electoral trap
designed by the NASS. Mr. President should not sign. An electoral munble-jumble
is the least expected of Africa’s giant. This new amendment bill is capable of
causing confusion even in INEC’s camp because it has not been tested and
because the general election is too close for changes to be effected in the law
guiding elections. We therefore advise that the proposed amendments should be scrutinized
by both the presidency and INEC and kept in view (KIV) for the 2023 general elections
if found viable”.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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