Buhari to meet senators at Presidential Villa over Electoral Act Amendment Bill

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday night meet the 109 senators at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting was conveyed in a letter received from the State House and read during plenary on Tuesday by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan.

The Senate had on April 27, reached a resolution for its leadership to schedule a meeting with the president to discuss the issue of insecurity in the country.

The invitation letter for the scheduled meeting reads:

“I write to inform the Distinguished President of the Senate, that President Muhammadu Buhari will host a dinner of Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Tuesday, July,13, at 8p.m.

“The venue is at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.”

Mr Lawan did not disclose who signed the letter but merely said “Letter from the President.”

The invitation to dinners is remarkably coming hours after the Senate rejected Lauretta Onochie, Mr Buhari’s nominee for the position of INEC national commissioner.

It is also coming just about the time both the Senate and the House of Representative are planning to debate and pass the Electoral Act Amendment Bill before proceeding on summer break this week.

Mr Buhari had on four occasions declined assent to the bill, citing ordering of election sequence, drafting errors and closeness to the 2019 general elections as reasons for doing so.

On several occasions, the Senate faulted the federal government for doing very little or nothing to end pervasive insecurity in the country.

In 2020, the Senate dedicated most of its time to debating issues of security challenges following attacks from different states with the senators asking the government to act.

On three occasions, the senators asked Mr Buhari to sack the former service chiefs whom they said had overstayed their time and had no fresh ideas to tackle insurgency.

They made the calls in January, July and December of that year, asking the president to rejig, restructure, remodel or reposition the nation’s security architecture.

In February this year, 107 senators sponsored a motion on the “general insecurity in Nigeria.”

The Senate Deputy Leader, Ajayi Borrofice, who led the debate on the motion, cited attacks in nine states this year alone.

The motion came after the resignation of the service chiefs and new ones were appointed.(Premium Times)

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