…says if he can hastily sign PIB why not sign Electoral Amendment
…if he fails, opposition will move to override his veto
…postponement of fuel subsidy has rubbished PIA
…on soot, FG ignored NASS resolutions
Leader of the House of Representatives, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Caucus, Rep Kingsley Chinda has said President Muhammadu Buhari will disappoint him if he assents the Electoral Amendment Bill that has continued to linger as general elections draw close.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports PDP Caucus Leader in a tv program ‘Nigeria Right Now’ where he vowed that there’s something fishy about the passage of the Electoral Amendment Bill and other topical and knotty national issues such as the fuel subsidy imbroglio, PIA, soot in the Niger Delta and others.
Chinda who spoke during the interview without mincing words declared that from all indications the ruling All Progressives Congress APC has a hidden agenda to rubbish the Electoral Amendment process that is in the over all interest of all Nigerians.
He said: “On our part as an opposition we have conceded 100percent to allow the executive have its way on the Bill as he requested.
“It took Mr President less than two weeks to assent the PIB and it took him less than two weeks to return the PIA to NASS for amendment, why the haste and why didn’t it take him two weeks to assent the the Electoral Amendment Bill then return it in two weeks for amendment.
“You can’t dictate to parties on how to conduct their primaries and as opposition we wrote to NASS to reconvene during our recess to urgently address the situation but nothing happened despite our 100percent concession.
“NASS by going into these matters that dot the i and cross the Tees is over legislating. We should allow political parties and INEC some latitude to regulate their affairs.
If the President again refuses to assent to the Electoral Bill, the PDP Caucus will work towards overriding his veto. We hope other caucuses will join in taking this step in the interest of Nigeria and to develop our democracy.
Responding to a question on the 18 months postponement of withdrawal of fuel subsidy, Chinda said, “the strategy is defeatist because he simply passed the bulk to another government. He is leading from the back”
“The president is not bold enough to take a stand and as we all know, subsidy is only favouring a few elite and come to think of it, what’s the percentage of consumption of the subsidised products by Nigerians.
He explained that” the postponement of fuel subsidy has rubbished some of the plausible arguement in favour of the PIA. despite the fact that it is a defective Act that does not favour the most critical stakeholders particularly the Niger Deltans. The stakeholders do not have confidence in the Act and I see implementation of the Act being a catalyst for a special form of fresh crises in the oil rich area of the country.
On soot in the Niger Delta region, Chinda said before Gov Nyesom Wike decided to hold the bull by the horns to tackle it head long, both legislative Chambers had passed resolutions urging the Federal Government to intervene and demanding for an environmental audit of the Niger Delta.
“We (the Public Accounts Committee ) asked the Auditor General of the Federation, AuGF to go ahead to conduct this audit but the Federal Government failed to fund it.
“Taking it as a personal challenge, Gov Wike despite the heavy risk involved took it upon himself to challenge the perpetrators of the soot menace.
“And you know is like directly fighting the security operatives themselves because some of them are accused of being deeply involved in the illicit business of bunkering.
