| The Daily Crucible | Tuesday, December 21 2021
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has read President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter indicating his refusal of assent to the Electoral Act amendmrnt bill.
Gbajabiamila read the letter during plenary on Tuesday. The letter dated December 13, 2021, leaked to the media on Monday night.
“I have received informed advice from relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies of the government, and have also carefully reviewed the Bill in the light of the current realities prevalent in the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the circumstances.
“Arising from the review, Rt Honourable Speaker may wish to note that, the conduct of elections for the nomination of party candidates solely via direct primaries as envisaged by the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 has serious adverse, legal, financial, economic and security consequences which cannot be accommodated at the moment considering our nation’s peculiarities.”
In the same vein, the president wrote a separate letter to the House seeking for virement dated December 16th, 2021.
It reads: ” The House may wish to recall that I signed the 2021 Appropriation on December 31st 2020, for a total expenditure of N13.588 trillion and a Supplementary Appropriation to cater for critical needs for the Security and Health Sector in the sum of N983 billion on July 26th, 2021.
“You may also recall that, during the signing of the 2021 Appropriation Act, I mentioned that, where necessary, I will revert to the National Assembly with a request for amendment, virement or other appropriate adjustments to ensure that the core objectives of the budget are accomplished.
” Accordingly, the 2021 Budget implementation is faced with challenges that will require additional funding for some critical and urgent line items in the budget.
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to forward the comprehensive Virement Proposal for the consideration and approval of the National Assembly.”
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