The President of the Senate,
Ahmad Lawan; and Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the
opening of plenary on Tuesday, read the communication from the President, Muhammadu
Buhari, on his rejection of the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill.
Gbajabiamila said the House would
act on Buhari’s communication when the National Assembly resumes in January.
The National Assembly is closing
for the year today after passing the 2022 Appropriation Bill and the 2021
Finance Bill.
The letter, which was dated
December 13, 2021, was received by the House on December 21, 2021.
It was titled, ‘Withholding of
Assent to Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021.’
The letter read, “Further to the
fetter dated 18th November, 2021, forwarded for presidential assent, the
Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021, as passed by the National Assembly, I have
received informed advice from relevant ministries, departments and agencies of
the government, and have also carefully reviewed the bill in light of the
current realities prevalent in the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the
circumstances.
“Arising from the review, Rt.
Honourable Speaker may wish to note that the conduct of elections for the
nomination of party candidates solely via direct primaries as envisaged by the
Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 has serious adverse legal, financial,
economic and security consequences which cannot be accommodated at the moment
considering our nation’s peculiarities. It also has implications on the rights
of citizens to participate in the government as constitutionally ensured.
“The Electoral Act (Amendment)
Bill 2021 seeks to amend certain provisions of the extant Electoral Act 2010.
Part of the objective of the bill is the amendment of the present Section 87 of
the Electoral Act, 2010, to delete the provision for the conduct of indirect
primaries in the nomination of party candidates such that party candidates can
henceforth only emerge through direct primaries.
“Arising from the review, Mr.
Speaker may wish to particularly note the pertinent issues implicated as
follows to wit:
“The conduct of direct primaries
across the 8,809 wards across the length and breadth of the country will lead
to a significant spike in the cost of conducting primary elections by parties
as well as increase in the cost of monitoring such elections by INEC who has to
deploy monitors across these wards each time a party is to conduct direct
primaries for the presidential, gubernatorial and legislative posts. The
addition of these costs with the already huge cost of conducting general
elections will inevitable lead to huge financial burden on both the political
parties, INEC and the economy in general at a time of dwindling revenues.
“The indirect consequences of the
issues of high cost and monetisation are that it will raise financial crimes
and constitute further strain on the economy. It will also stifle smaller
parties without the enormous resources required to mobilise all party members
for the primaries. This is not healthy for the sustenance of multi-party
democracy in Nigeria.
“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 amendment as proposed is a violation of
the underlying spirit of democracy which is characterised by freedom of
choices. Political party membership is a voluntary exercise of the
constitutional right to freedom of association. Several millions of Nigerians
are not card carrying members of any political party. Thus, the emphasis should
be on enabling qualified Nigerians to vote for the candidate of their choice
during general elections as a means of participation in governance and
furtherance of the concept of universal adult suffrage or universal franchise.
The proposed amendment may also
give rise to plethora of Iitigations based on diverse grounds and issues of
Law, including but not limited to the fact that the proposed amendment cannot
work in retrospect given that the existing Constitution of the parties already
registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) permits direct,
indirect and consensus primaries. This real possibility, will, without doubt,
truncate the electoral program of the nation as another electoral exercise is
imminent towards a change of government in 2023.
“Nigeria is at the moment still
grappling with the issues of monetisation of the political process and vote
buying at both party and general elections. The direct implication of
institutionalising only direct primaries is the aggravation of
over-monetisation of the process as there will be much more people a contestant
needs to reach out to thereby further fuelling corruption and abuse of office
by incumbent contestants who may resort to public resources to satisfy the
increased demands and logistics of winning party primaries.
“Direct primaries are also
subject or susceptible to manipulation or malpractices as most parties cannot
boast of reliable and verified membership Register or valid means of
identification which therefore means non-members can be recruited to vote by
wealthy contestants to influence the outcome. Rival parties can also conspire
and mobilise people to vote against a good or popular candidate in a party
during its primaries just to pave way for their own candidates. Whereas where
voting is done by accredited delegates during indirect primaries, the above
irregularities are not possible.
It further read, “The major
conclusions arrived at upon the review are highlighted hereunder, to wit:
“Asides its serious adverse
legal, financial, economic and security consequences, the limitation or
restriction of the nomination procedures available to political parties and
their members constitutes an affront to the right to freedom of association. It
is thus undemocratic to restrict the procedure or means of nomination of
candidates by political parties, as it also amounts to undue interference in
the affairs of political parties.
“Indirect primaries or collegiate
elections are part of internationally accepted electoral practices. More so,
direct primaries are not free from manipulations and do not particularly
guarantee the emergence of the will of the people especially in circumstances
like ours where it is near impossible to sustain a workable implementation
framework or structure thereof.
“In the premise of the above, I
hereby signify to the National Assembly that I am constrained to withhold
assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 in line with the provisions
of Section 58(1) & (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). It is my considered
position that the political parties should be allowed to freely exercise right
of choice in deciding which of direct or indirect primary to adopt in the
conduct of their primary elections as their respective realities may permit.
“Please accept, Rt. Honourable
Speaker, the assurance of my highest deration and esteem.”
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