The House of Representatives will take action on the Electoral Act, 2021 rejected by President Muhamadu on the grounds of an infusion of mandatory direct primaries for nomination party candidates when it resumes from Christmas and new year break in early 2022.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila who disclosed this on Tuesday in his address to mark the last plenary session of the year 2021, called on lawmakers not to “throw out the baby with the bathwater” with regards to the bill.
“This year, despite the differences of opinions, all of us in the House of Representatives and indeed, the entire National Assembly, worked to pass the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill. We included in that bill, provisions we hoped will significantly enhance the conduct of our national elections and improve public confidence in our electoral outcomes.
“As it is now, that bill has not received presidential assent, and it falls to parliament to decide the best way forward. When we return in the new year, we will resume our efforts to reform the electoral system in our country. And we will do it together. That is what the Nigerian people expect of us, and we will do our duty for God and our country.
” Every law is a living document and as long as it has breath, it must survive”, Gbajabiamila said.
Meanwhile, Buhari in a letter conveying his withholding of assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2021 read by Speaker Gbajabiamila at the plenary, based his action on 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”.
The President argued that 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 an increase in the cost of monitoring such elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which has to deploy
monitors across these wards each time a party is to conduct direct primaries for the presidential, gubernatorial, and legislative posts.
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“The addition of these costs with the already huge cost of conducting general elections will inevitably lead to the huge financial burden on both the political parties, lNEC, and the economy in general at a time of dwindling revenues.
“The indirect consequences or 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 characterized 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 a plethora of Iltigations 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-monetization 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 mobilize 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.
“The major conclusion 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 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. Moreso, 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 the right of choice in deciding which of direct or indirect primaries to adopt in the conduct of their primary elections as their respective realities may permit,” the letter read.
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