The mood of the nation regarding the Electoral Act is pregnant. Every well-meaning Nigerian and even foreign nationals residing in the country is desirous of an amended Electoral Act to guide the nation’s future electoral processes. Fortunately, the National Assembly had passed a new and harmonised Electoral Bill. Issues on the amendment of the Act have been confusing, with Nigerians blaming President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for all the lapses that have led to the Bill hitting the rock each time it was presented for presidential assent.
The blames are not for nothing. The President is the numero uno member of the APC. APC is the ruling party with the requisite number to influence every decision of government. But, it is amazing that the same party and the president appear to be introducing bumps at every turn the Electoral Bill is in issue. And Nigerians and the international community have refused to be fooled.
It is a consensus that the current Electoral Act has lots of loopholes which politicians explore to upturn the electoral verdict of the masses; and examples abound. And the yearning of the public to dot the I’s and Cross the T’s in the toxic Act is overwhelming and general. At the last presentation of the re-amended bill at the National Assembly, the issues which the legislators dealt with bother on the points made by the President for refusing his assent which are matters on the mode of conducting primary election by political parties, insisting that the letters of the section should be democratic enough to include direct, indirect and consensus options.
Both chambers of the National Assembly have done the needful sequel to the “rescission on clause 84 of the Electoral Act No. 26, 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and Committal to the Committee of the Whole, moved by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North).
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, after the amendment to the bill said the purpose was to harmonise the Senate position with that of the House of Representatives, to accommodate clearly defined provisions for the mode of primaries.
He said: “You would recall that the Senate and the House passed the Electoral Act amendment Bill with slight differences. While the House passed the mode of primaries to be direct and indirect only, the Senate passed the mode of primaries to be direct, indirect and consensus.
“The direct primaries are well defined on how it will be conducted; ditto the indirect primaries. And for the consensus, the two chambers have produced clear definition of how a consensus candidate would emerge.
“Our desire is to ensure that we reform the electoral processes for better transparency, accountability and integrity to the satisfaction of Nigerians and the international community.
The amended bill provides in clause 84 (2) that “the procedure for the nomination of candidates by political parties for the various elective positions shall be by direct, indirect primaries or consensus”. Clause 84(3) provides that “a political party shall not impose nomination qualification or disqualification criteria, measures, or conditions on any aspirant or candidate for any election in its constitution, guidelines, or rules for nomination of candidates for elections, except as prescribed under sections 65, 66, 106, 107, 131, 137, 177 and 187 of the Constitution”.
On direct primaries, clause 84 (4) provides that “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 and shall adopt the procedure outlined below:
“(a) In the case of Presidential Primaries, all registered members of the party shall vote for aspirants of their choice at a designated centre at each ward of the Federation.
“(b) The procedure in paragraph (a) above of this subsection shall be adopted for direct primaries in respect of gubernatorial, senatorial, federal and state constituencies.
“(c) Special Conventions or Congresses shall be held to ratify the candidate with the highest number of votes at designated centres at the National, State, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies, as the case may be.”
On Indirect Primaries, the bill provides in Clause 84(5) that, “a political party that adopts indirect primaries for the choice of its candidate shall: (a) In the case of nominations to the position of Presidential candidate, (i) hold a Special Presidential Convention at a designated centre in the Federal Capital Territory or any other place within the Federation that is agreed to by the National Executive Committee of the party where delegates shall vote for aspirants of their choice.
“(ii) the aspirant with the highest number of votes shall be declared winner of the Presidential primary of the political party and that aspirant’s name shall be forwarded to the INEC as the candidate of the party.”
It further provides under 84(7) that, “where there is only one aspirant or a consensus candidate in a political party for any of the elective positions mentioned in sub-section (5)(a), (b), (c) and (d), the party shall convene a special convention or congress at a designated centre on a specified date for the confirmation of such aspirant and the name of the aspirant shall be forwarded to the INEC as the candidate of the party.”
The Electoral Bill provides in Clause 84(8): “a political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidate shall clearly outline in its constitution and rule, the procedure for the democratic election of delegates to vote at the convention, congress.”
On consensus candidate, the bill in 84(9)(a) provides that “a political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall get the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate”.
It states further in paragraph (b) that, “where a political party is unable to secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the purpose of a consensus candidate, it shall revert to the choice of direct or indirect primary for the nomination of candidates for the aforesaid elective positions.”
In paragraph (c) it states that, “a special convention or nomination congress shall be held to ratify the choice of consensus candidates at designated centres at the national, state, senatorial, federal and state constituencies, as the case may be.”
After the work has been done, we gathered from the Presidential Liaison Officer to the Senate, Sen Babajide Omoworare, that the bureaucracy of the National Assembly submitted the document to the president on Monday, January 31st, 2022.
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders have also urged President Buhari to do the needful without much ado. They emphsised that assenting to the bill within one week will help INEC issue the necessary guidelines for the 2023 general elections and we cannot agree less.
Similarly, Bloggers Association of Nigeria (BON) commended the National Assembly for reworking the bill. They strongly believe that if the Bill is given assent by the President it will empower INEC to transmit election results electronically and eliminate electoral fraud.
The ball is now squarely in President Buhari’s court and he cannot afford to disappoint. It is hoped that Malami and other senior aides to the President should understand that there is never a perfect law anywhere. What Nigerians desire now is the assent to the re-amended bill. It is no time for picking holes. If they do, Nigerians are likely to see such as premeditated and a big affront on everybody.
QUOTES:
1.Nigerians blaming President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for all the lapses that have led to the Bill hitting the rock each time it was presented for presidential assent
2.The ball is now squarely in President Buhari’s court and he cannot afford to disappoint.
