POLITICS
Electoral Act: Overriding Buhari not best option, Jega tells NASS
The former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, on Sunday told the National Assembly that overriding President Muhammadu Buhari over the Electoral Act amendment Bill is not the best option.
Jega said this on Sunday at the citizens’ townhall Electoral Bill 2021, organised by Yiaga Africa and partners.
According to him, the country will be better off if it goes into the next election with a new electoral law because it will enhance the integrity and the preparation of the conduct of elections.
He said that the Bill contained quite a lot of good things that could enhance the integrity of the electoral process apart from issues of direct primaries because Nigeria has not had a substantive improvement on the electoral law since 2010.
“On direct primaries, clearly the electoral process will have better integrity if we do direct primaries appropriately, Members of the National Assembly know that governors manipulate the indirect primaries and think that if they move into direct primaries they will be able to free themselves from that kind of manipulation.
“However, we need to interrogate this situation very well, so my suggestion is to give INEC the law to begin preparation for the 2023 elections.
“The simplest way to do that is not to override the president but to drop the issue of direct primaries until we can ensure that parties can really hold direct primaries.
“You cannot throw the baby away with the bath water, so let’s not because of the direct primary miss out on other good things in the law.
“This is so that we can have a law that can be assented to, so that INEC can prepare for the 2023 elections,’’ he said.
Jega urged the National Assembly to do the needful rather than contemplating overriding the President by removing the contentious provisions.
Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, in his remarks, said that the 36 State Governors are not afraid of direct primaries as being alleged by some Nigerians.
Sule, however, said that what they opposed was a method that could limit the choices of the people.
“In the APC constitution, we have three options: consensus, direct primaries and indirect primaries.
“The option should be left open and that it would not be a surprise that some parties may even adopt direct primaries.
“Governors are happy with the contributions made into the bill and from what I have heard, everyone is saying the same thing, so the issue of the direct primaries should be removed.
“I am not the closest to the president but working with the president all this while, I can say that President Buhari would sign the bill into law once the right things are done,’’ he said.
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, expressed disappointment at how things turned out with the Bill.
Akpata said that everything about the Electoral bill spelt progress but the right steps needed to be taken to get it right by thinking before implementation.
“I’m saddened that everything is not going to work and then we go back to square zero.
“Everything about the bill spells progress for the country. The bill should have been passed long ago.
“The president and the National Assembly being of the same party should have ironed this out to avoid this logjam.”
He advised the National Assembly to take out the provision of direct primaries and transmit the bill immediately to the president for assent.
The Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said that Nigeria had about 399 days to the 2023 elections and the timely passage of the bill would be in the interest of deepening democracy and national development.
Itodo said that anything other than that would rob Nigerians the opportunity of implementing important innovations for the forthcoming FCT council elections and the governorship election in Ekiti and Osun states.
On her part, Samuela Isopi, EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said that it is in the interest of democratic development to get the electoral laws right.
“What is good for Nigeria is good for the world,” she said.
On his part, the Executive Director, The Albino Foundation, Jake Ekpelle, said that the law would enhance inclusivity and help Persons With Disability (PWDs) exercise there franchise unlike before.
Ekpelle said that he never voted till he was 58 years because PWDs were always disenfranchised but with the new law INEC would care for the PWDs’ interest.
“Now that the new bill mandates INEC to ensure that PWDs are mainstreamed into the nation’s electoral system, I hope to see a time PWDs would be elected deputy governors, governors, vice president and one day be elected the president of Nigeria,” he said.
Also, the National Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Engr. Yabagi Sani, said the National Assembly didn’t carry political parties and other stakeholders along.
He said in spite of the advancement of democracy in the United States, it still operates delegate system and not direct primaries, hence the lawmakers should remove the contentious clauses.
On her part, a former presidential candidate, KOWA party, Prof. Remi Sonaiya, also called for the removal of the direct primaries clause, since that was the problem so that the bill would be passed.”
The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Ayuba Wabba, said that time is running out and that the National Assembly must remove the controversial bits of the electoral bill, and get everything ready ahead of the 2023 elections.
He wondered why Nigeria is not keying into the ECOWAS and African Union (AU) resolution that electoral law should be ready one year before elections.
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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