Statutory delegates to participate in party primaries next year – Akpabio

…urges NBA to weed out quacks in legal profession

There are strong indications that the 2022 Electoral Act will be amended to include statutory delegates in political parties’ primaries scheduled for next year ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, disclosed this in Abuja while addressing the national leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

He also urged the Association to weed out quacks from the legal profession.

According to him, the omission of statutory delegates from party primaries in the 2022 Electoral Act was a costly mistake that must be corrected before the next round of general elections.

He said, “There were defects in the last Electoral Act that was amended. So, we want to cure some of the defects that we found in our electoral system. I can tell you one.

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“Without any particular intention of the Parliament, in the 2023 elections and the 2022 primaries, we inadvertently created what I may call super-delegates.

“Because all the statutory delegates, starting from the President, the Vice President, the Governors, Deputy Governors, the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, members of Parliament—National and Sub-National—Chairmen of Councils, and all, were omitted as delegates.”

Akpabio added, “These are areas that we think we can look at in order to make our democracy more participatory. Because democracy is all about numbers.

“We ended up at a national level bringing out the President. We had about 2,380, because we had 3,000 people in each of the local government areas.

“Since statutory delegates were omitted from the amendment, it meant that all others, unless they contested to be an ad hoc delegate, were not welcome at the primaries to select flag bearers for the legislative houses, governorship positions, and, of course, presidential conventions in all political parties across the country.

“We shall also look at the powers that we gave to INEC. At the time, it seemed as if INEC was the last arbiter in deciding who is a candidate and not the political parties.

“So, we now have to look up to INEC to decide whether to take the name or not. I strongly believe that political parties should have the power to select their candidates—those who will best serve their manifestos, have the integrity to represent the people, and possess a track record of performance to deliver the dividends of democracy. These are areas we are reviewing in the Electoral Act.”

Akpabio also called on the NBA leadership to rid the legal profession of quacks, whom he claimed included individuals masquerading as senior members of the bar without ever being called to the bar.

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But, Afam Osigwe (SAN), the National President of the NBA, urged the National Assembly to incorporate justice sector reforms in the ongoing constitutional amendment.

He recalled an incident from the early 1990s at the Igbosere Magistrate Court in Lagos, where he exposed a quack who had previously studied History at the University of Calabar but was falsely presenting himself as a lawyer.