By our reporter/ Following public outcry over the rejection of the electoral bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, the national assembly on Wednesday re-amended the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and approved both direct and indirect primaries.
Both chambers made the pre-amendment in separate plenary sessions. In the Senate, the lawmakers also added the consensus clause for the nomination of candidates by political parties for elective positions.
According to a statement from the upper legislative chamber, “a political party that adopts the direct primaries procedure shall ensure that all aspirants are given equal opportunity of being voted for by members of the party”.
On Clause 84(4), it read that “a political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidate shall adopt the procedure outlined below; (a) In the case of nominations to the position of Presidential candidate, a political party shall, (i) hold special conventions in each of the 36 states of the federation and FCT, where delegates shall vote for each of the aspirants at designated centers in each State Capital on specified dates.”
Also on Wednesday, the House of Representatives removed the consensus option.
They had gone into a closed-door session after which the chamber became rowdy.
Wednesday’s move is the latest in the series of events that have trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s decline of assent to the bill.
In December, President Buhari had written to the National Assembly, informing them of his decision to decline assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, citing the direct primaries clause as a major reason for his decision.
He explained that while the inclusion of the clause is anti-democratic, it is also expensive to execute.
“In addition to increased costs identified above, conducting and monitoring primary elections across 8,809 wards will pose huge security challenges as the security agencies will also be overstretched, direct primaries will be open to participation from all and sundry and such large turn-out without effective security coordination will also engender intimidation and disruptions, thereby raising credibility issues for the outcomes of such elections,” the Nigerian leader added.
“The amendment as proposed is a violation of the underlying spirit of democracy which is characterized by freedom of choices.”
According to him, since membership of political parties is voluntary, and millions of Nigerians are not card-carrying members of any party, the emphasis should be on enabling citizens to vote for the candidates of their choice during elections.
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