Abuja – The presidency has debunked reports purporting that President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the reviewed Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law.
Recall that as of Saturday evening, there were reports in a section of the media that the President who proceeded on a trip to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates may have signed the bill into law.
An online platform had on Saturday, published a story claiming that the President had already signed the bill, which was transmitted to him last week Friday.
However, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, who just returned to the country with the President, said the news of the signing, which had already gone viral on social media, was not to his knowledge, saying “ it is news to me too.”
Also speaking on the development, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, House of Representatives, Umar El-Yakub, also debunked the information, stressing that the viral news could not be true, citing reasons for his conclusion.
According to El-Yakub, referring to the President on the bill, said “he couldn’t have signed it yesterday because he was out of the country and he couldn’t have signed already because he’s just entering the country.
“I also cannot tell you that he will still sign it or will not sign it. He’s the President. But if it will be signed later, we will all know”, he said.
Some sources within the presidency also insisted that the information was false.
One of the sources pointed out that the bill could not have been signed in secret, especially when the president was out of the country and is expected back later today from UAE. (TheNation/vitalnews)