Press Release
Order Of Election: UPP Urges National Assembly To Veto Electoral Bill
The United Progressive Party (UPP) is disappointed and indeed dismayed
that President Buhari has defied all logic to decline assent to the
Electoral Bill remitted to him by the National Assembly mainly because
of his disagreement with the order of elections which put presidential
election last for the 2019 general elections and beyond.
His withholding assent to this bill smacks of fear of losing the 2019
Presidential Election as well as the fear of his party, the All
Progressives Congress (APC)Â not benefitting from the bandwagon effect
of a possible early victory if the presidential election came first.
The order of election as contained in the electoral bill will not only
guarantee a sustained mass participation in the elections until the
presidential election is conducted. It will also ensure that
candidates of various political parties will win elections essentially
on their personal merit and the popularity of the manifesto of their
political parties which will be canvassed in the campaigns leading to
the elections.
If the APC and President Buhari were confident that the record of
their performance was impressive as they have often claimed, there
should be no reason why this fear should be expressed in the manner of
withholding assent to a bill that holds very strong promise to deepen
and develop our democracy.
CHIEF DR. CHEKWAS OKORIE
NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, UPP
