Former Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Lagos State, Mr Dayo Ogunjebe, has said that it was within the power of the National Assembly to re-order the 2019 general election.
According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as a creation of the National Assembly will have no issue but to follow the law as passed by the lawmakers.
The Nigerian senate and the House of Representatives have agreed on the order of the 2019 general elections.
Based on the reordering, the National Assembly election is to hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly, and then the presidential election.
This decision, however, did not go down will with some persons, a development that has sparked nationwide reactions.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, Ogunjebe said the essence of the re-ordering of the election dates was to avoid a bandwagon effect and to ensure that every elected officer at the state and national levels won election on the strength of his or her campaign.
He said: ”I don’t understand the issue now. Suddenly there are complains over the re-ordering of dates for the election. Some people have argued that the governors and president don’t really campaign, that they wait for the lawmakers to secure their votes, which the governor or president in turn, aggregate. But with the re-ordering, the governor will campaign, same applies to the president.
“Unless, we have some other thing in mind, as far as I am concern, it is the best option , so that our elected officials get to power on the strength of their campaigns and promises at all levels. Every Nigerian should support this.”On the fortunes of the PDP in Lagos, he said that with the abysmal performance of the All Progressives Congress, APC at the national level, it was clear that Nigerians have seen that the APC has nothing to offer and will vote in the party (PDP) in the next general election.”
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