Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) have asked the national assembly to override President Muhammadu
Buhari and pass the electoral act amendment bill or remove the provisions on
direct primary.
The governors’ position is contained in a communique
released on Monday after a meeting in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state.
Recall that the president declined assent to
the bill, citing concerns over the recommendation of direct primaries for
political parties.
The president had also said compulsory direct primary polls
for political parties “violates the spirit of democracy”.
The opposition party governors said the national assembly
must quickly commence work on the bill, adding that it is critical for credible
elections.
“The PDP Governors requested the National Assembly to
quickly conclude deliberations on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill either by
overriding Mr President’s veto or deleting areas of complaints,” the communique
reads.
“The meeting advised that the option of sustaining Mr
President’s veto would lead to a quicker resolution and would deny Mr President
the opportunity to once again truncate a reformed Electoral jurisprudence for
Nigeria. An early concluded Electoral Act is vital for credible elections.”
The governors also expressed reservations about Buhari’s
stance on state police, stating that Nigeria’s security architecture must be
decentralised in order to effectively combat insecurity.
“The meeting lamented the continued state of insecurity in
the country, the persistent and ceaseless flow of Nigerians’ blood on a daily
basis in many parts of Nigeria, the near-collapse of the security situation in
Nigeria. The strategies to confront terrorists, kidnappers, bandits and other
criminals is still a major problem of the APC administration,” the governors
said.
“The meeting expressed regrets that Mr President is
unwilling, from his recent comments discountenancing the proposals for state
policing, to participate in reviewing the structural problems of tackling
insecurity in Nigeria and urges Mr President to reconsider his position and
consider decentralisation and restructuring of the security architecture as the
most viable solution, together with proper arming, funding and training
requirements for Security Agencies.”
The governors said the “next (2023) election is a very
consequential election that should be used to end the dominance of very youth
unfriendly APC government”.
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