BREAKING: President Buhari Signs Electoral Act Amendment Bill Into Law

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law.

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the re-worked Act Amendment Bill into law.
The president signed the bill at 12:25 pm on Friday at the presidential villa in Abuja.
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and some other senior government officials, witnessed the signing of the bill.

The National Assembly had transmitted the reworked amendment bill to the president for assent on January 31st.
This comes barely a week to the expiration of the window the President has to take a decision on the proposed legislation, as required by the Nigerian Constitution.

The president has withheld assent to the bill in November 2021, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, exclusion of multiple options of the mode of the primary election and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political players as part of the reasons for his decision.
Amid an outcry over the delay in signing the bill into law which the National Assembly upon returning from break had re-worked followed a peaceful protest by CSOs at the nation’s capital city.

Sources in the presidency had indicated that President Buhari was billed to give his assent to the bill on Wednesday but the signing of the bill failed and was later scheduled for Friday.

Now the bill has been signed into law, The Electoral Amendment Act will empower political parties to conduct direct and indirect primaries
It will also empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy any known technology to conduct elections.

Technology like the BVAS machine will be used to get the actual number of voters and the number of total votes cast and this will help to reduce electoral rigging. In terms of litigations, online transmission of results will be used for evidence.