President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared that he signed the Electoral Act 2026 into law in the best interest of democracy and respect for the rule of law amid controversies surrounding the bill, news.ng reports.
The president made the statement on Wednesday evening while breaking the Ramadan and Lent fast with members of his cabinet and party loyalists at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, addressing concerns and debates raised by some Nigerians across the political divide, Tinubu maintained that the huge support for the bill by members of the National Assembly left him with no option but to sign it into law.
“I’m a die-hard Democrat, and I follow that belief wholeheartedly, committed to a united country, Nigeria. That principle, and that philosophy, will live and die with me. That I signed the electoral act, I have no choice,” Tinubu said.
The Nigerian leader clarified that rejecting the bill, which had gone through various legislative stages and was endorsed by lawmakers, could have created a ripple effect, thereby heating the polity unnecessarily.
“I don’t want to throw the country into turmoil of argument of what it is; there’s an overwhelming majority by the National Assembly that passed the law.
“If I have a serious question or reservation in the body, I will have raised it, what I have known. I submitted myself to the principle of rule of law, democracy, I signed,” he said.
According to the president, his action was guided by his respect for democracy and the ideals of the Constitution.
“I signed. The rest is history. We meet at the polls. The game is sweet. Only when you are winning. It’s all right, we must accommodate one another, we must help one another, we must strengthen the platform.”
“But democracy, is it? Yes. Yes. There must be peace, stability, and commitment to rule of law,” he said.
