ELECTORAL BILL: CONCERN CITIZENS ARE SET TO MEET AT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY GATE TOMORROW TO RESIST THE DANGEROUS MANIPULATIONS OF ELECTORAL ACT (AMENDMENT) BILL.

ELECTORAL BILL: CONCERN CITIZENS ARE SET TO MEET AT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY GATE TOMORROW TO RESIST THE DANGEROUS MANIPULATIONS OF ELECTORAL ACT (AMENDMENT) BILL.

IN LAGOS, ACTION HOLDS AT LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY BY 10AM 

I write to inform that the National Assembly is prepared to  pass a multilated  Electoral Act  Amendment Bill (2021) tomorrow, Tuesday, 6th July, 2021.

I seek to let the whole  world know that there are discrepancies between the approved version of the Bill and the alleged final copy, where some key provisions have been manipulated, to wit:

•The provision for yearly instalments for release of INEC funds has been removed (S.3(3))

•Electronic transmission of results has been prohibited (S.50(2))

•The power of INEC to review results declared under duress has been removed (S.65)

•The timeline within which INEC’s decision not to register a party can be legally challenged has been extended

•The limits on campaign expenses have been increased (S.88).     

I am perplexed about the grave implications these underhanded manipulations and illegal actions will have on our Electoral Process. 

I call on mass of Nigerians to join the Alliance of Civil Society Organisations for Expansion of Electoral and Democratic Space ( ACCESS), a coalition of non-governmental organisations, of which I am the Co-Spokesperson as well as other civil society organisations and concerned bodies at the National Assembly Gate , Abuja , Federal Capital Territory to demand that the mutilated Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill must not be passed into law.

In Lagos, the Centre of Action is at the Lagos State House of Assembly Gate which will be used as a point of contact with the National Assembly Gate with the similar  petition submitted at the National Assembly to be submitted too to the Speaker of the House of Assembly. The undersigned can be contacted for further details .

Going forward, no matter the outcome of tomorrow’s Proceedings, we must be unrelenting in the pursuit of widened electoral space.

AYO ADEMILUYI ESQ.,

Lagos,

09097933015