Plans by federal lawmakers to veto President Muhammadu Buhari on the amended Electoral Act bill suffered a set back as the House of Representatives resolved to commence fresh work on the rejected bill.
The President had on Tuesday communicated to the National Assembly his decision to withhold assent to the bill.
Some senators who are loyal to the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had planned to override President Buhari on the bill.
It was gathered that while pro-Saraki senators were confident of over 65 senators in their camp to override the President, anti-Saraki senators, led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, were confident of about 43 senators.
But the House in a dramatic u-turn dropped their plans to override President Buhari.
The Spokesman of the House, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, who made this known during a press briefing, said the House agreed with the President on two of the three reasons given, but disagrees with him on one.
Namdas said the two areas they agreed on are where the President said the National Assembly has no powers to legislate for local governments and that the deletion of two grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections.
However, Namdas said they disagreed with the President on his reason that changing elections sequence would affect the constitutional rights of Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He said Sections 76 of the constitution and 4 of the Legislative Privileges Act give the National Assembly powers to determine elections sequence.
Thus, he said, they would expunge areas that they agreed with the President and retain the one they did not agree with him.
“The bill will then be gazetted once again, presented for first, second and third readings before we’ll send it to the president for his assent,” he said.