President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime is considering pushing the Nigerian Senate to rubber-stamp his amendment of section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act or sue the national assembly.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), gave the hint while fielding questions from journalists after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting. 

Mr Malami disclosed that the regime might sue the national assembly for rejecting a bill by Mr Buhari, seeking the amendment of section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act.

The Senate had voted against Mr Buhari’s request to amend section 84 (12) which stipulates that political officeholders must first resign their appointment before contesting even party primary elections. 

Mr Malami said, “National Assembly has taken a position, and if the government is in any way of the opinion that there are certain conflicts associated with the constitution, in terms of breaching the provisions of the constitution relating to law-making, the government has a lot of options to consider and exploit.”

He added, “One of the options is to request or demand the National Assembly to consider; the other option, if the government feels strongly about it, it may consider the judicial option which is equally available and open to all.”