The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi
Gbajabiamila, has said that the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill will soon be
signed into law now that the President, Muhammadu Buhari, is back in the
country.
Gbajabiamila disclosed this to State House correspondents
after he met with the President at the Aso Rock Villa on Thursday.
It was also learnt on Thursday that the bill had been
dispatched to the President by the Clerk of the National Assembly.
On the purpose of his visit, the Speaker said, “I just came
to brief the President about the goings-on in the country as they affect the
National Assembly. So, we had fruitful discussions. We had fruitful discussions
and tried to strike some synergy.
“We had a very robust discussion about the tripartite
committee on the Electoral Act amendment, which is what I am sure you are
asking about. If I tell you that we didn’t discuss that, I will be lying to
you.
“You are aware that the National Assembly has passed the
issue of direct primaries and electronic transmission of election results. That
is the position of the National Assembly. It has passed both houses. Hopefully,
we will get the Electoral Act Amendment Bill transmitted very soon now that he
(Buhari) is back. We are hopeful that it will become a law and Nigerians will
be better for it.”
Asked about the concerns raised by the Benue State Governor,
Samuel Ortom, who on Tuesday advised the President to return the Electoral Act
to the National Assembly, because of direct primaries, which he claimed would
be too expensive for political parties and the Independent National Electoral
Commission, the Speaker said the National Assembly could not put a price tag on
democracy when making decisions.
“I have heard that argument about cost. And this is what I
have to say. Do you put a price tag on democracy? I don’t think you should.
What is too much and what is too little to buy freedom and democracy? I don’t
think you should put a price tag on it,” Gbajabiamila said.
The Speaker stated that the National Assembly would continue
to support direct primaries, adding that it would empower the people at the
grass-roots level.
“Let everybody participate in governance. Democracy is
defined as a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
‘People’ is used three times in that definition. And it doesn’t start from
general elections. It starts from primaries. So, we have made it abundantly
clear,” Gbajabiamila argued.
He added that the indirect primaries have for a long time
not helped the country’s democracy.
The Speaker said the indirect primary method had undermined
the success of the Not-Too-Young-To-Run law, which reduced the age limit for
electoral offices.
“How will the young people get involved? Now, they have a
chance with direct primaries. We have opened up the space and they can get in
and mobilise themselves and if they are popular enough, they win the election.
They are not dependent on any godfather,” he said.
Gbajabiamila added that the President had always supported
direct primaries, adding that he had been a proponent from the very start.
The APC Governors’ Forum led by Kebbi State Governor, Atiku
Bagudu, had last week rejected the inclusion of the direct primary method in
the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. The Peoples Democratic Party had also kicked
against making direct primaries mandatory.
So far, about six governors have openly rejected the
adoption of direct primaries.
Meanwhile, the Senate said on Thursday it was confident that
the President would sign the bill.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya,
stated this in an interview with journalists after he defended his panel’s 2022
budget reports before the Committee on Appropriations.
“The amendments to the Electoral Act were made based on the
views and requests of Nigerians. I believe that it will help to guarantee free,
fair and credible elections in the country,” Gaya said.
Speaking on the controversial issue of direct primaries,
Gaya said it was the best way to accommodate people at the grassroots in
political parties’ internal democracy.
He said, “I believe that direct primary is taking democracy
to the grassroots. That is what President Buhari always talks about. It will
allow people who are card-carrying members of the party to decide who should be
their candidates.
“We are happy with it and we believe that President Buhari
will sign the bill very soon. The National Assembly will transmit the bill to
the President this week for assent and we expect that he will sign it into law
by the grace of God.”
Gaya lamented the non-functionality of the Bimodal Voter
Accreditation System during the just concluded Anambra State governorship
election.
He assured Nigerians that all errors noticed during the poll
with regards to the BVAS machines would be corrected before the 2023 general
elections.
The senator stated, “We keenly watched the Anambra
governorship election and we realised that the BVAS has serious problems.
“We are surprised that the machines malfunctioned during the
Anambra governorship election, because they worked perfectly when INEC
demonstrated them for us at the committee.
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